Paris opens door to author fleeing Islamist threats

The award-winning feminist writer Taslima Nasreen, who is under death-threat from Islamist extremists, is to be housed in an artist's studio paid for by the city of Paris, more than a decade after she was forced into exile from her native Bangladesh.

Nasreen's outspoken stance on what she calls the inherent misogyny of conservative Muslim society in Bangladesh has sparked protests, riots and warrants for her arrest as well as a cash reward for her decapitation by religious fundamentalists.

In 1994, the former doctor was accused of blasphemy over her novel Lajja (Shame), which described the life of a Hindu family persecuted in Muslim-majority Bangladesh. The book was banned for offending Muslim religious sentiments.

She was quoted by an Indian newspaper saying the Qur'an should be rewritten because it was "unfair to women" and was forced to flee Bangladesh, even though she denied the comments and said she had been referring to sharia law.

After travelling across Europe and the US, and living in exile in India, where her presence led to threats and violent protests, and more recently in Sweden, she applied for housing in Paris six weeks ago. She is expected to move in next month.