Stockholm, Wednesday.

BANGLADESHI feminist author Taslima Nasrin, who faces death threats at

home from extremist Muslims, arrived in Sweden today and went into

hiding, saying she wanted to rest and work.

Nasrin was flown from Asia to Scandinavia under a cloak of secrecy,

with Swedish Government officials refusing to comment until she had been

in the country for several hours.

''I have come to Sweden at the invitation of the Swedish Pen Club to

rest and work,'' she said in a statement.

''I would like to thank all those who have supported me at home and

abroad.''

A Swedish official said Nasrin had been granted a tourist visa to

travel to Sweden.

It was not known whether she planned to settle in Sweden or would seek

a visa to move to the United States.

Nasrin has been in hiding since June 4, when the Government ordered

her arrest for insulting religious feelings by telling India's Statesman

newspaper that Islam's holy book, the Koran, should be revised

thoroughly.

Nasrin later said she was misquoted, but the newspaper stood by its

report.

Her comments provoked fury and Islamic militants offered cash rewards

for her death, a reaction like that of Iran's call for British author

Salman Rushdie to be killed for blaspheming Islam in his novel The

Satanic Verses.

Last week police in Bangladesh withdrew an arrest warrant against

Nasrin, after a High Court appearance in which she was granted

bail.--Reuter.