Salman Rushdie on a respirator after being stabbed

New York: Salman Rushdie, who has been in hiding for years after Iran’s fatwa ordered his killing, was wearing a respirator at a literary event in New York state on Friday and could have lost an eye after being stabbed. The British author of “The Satanic Verses” sparked outrage among some Muslims who believed it was blasphemous and was flown to a hospital for emergency surgery after the attack. had to be done. “The news is not good,” his agent said in a statement obtained by The New York Times. A nerve in his arm was severed. His liver had been stabbed and damaged,” said agent Andrew Wiley, adding that Rushdie was unable to speak. The assailant rushed to the stage where Rushdie was sitting and “stabbed him viciously multiple times,” he said. Police officers present at the event arrested the suspect after several people ran onto the stage and knocked him to the ground. A spectator doctor administered medical procedures until paramedics arrived. New York State Police have identified the suspect as his 24-year-old Hadi Matar from Fairfield, New Jersey, adding that he stabbed Rushdie in the neck and abdomen. The motive for the stabbing remains unknown.

Onstage interviewer Ralph Henry Reese, 73, suffered facial injuries but was released from hospital, police said. It was held at the Chautauqua Institution, which hosts arts programs in lakeside communities. “What many of us witnessed today was a violent expression of hatred that touches us to our core,” the Chautauqua Institution said in a statement. His LeVan, a regular at Chautauqua, said the suspect “tried to stab him as many times as possible before he was subdued,” and that the man said he was “trying to kill” Rushdie. He added that he believes “There were gasps of fear and panic from the crowd,” said the professor.

10 years in hiding

Rushdie, 75, rose to prominence with her second novel, Midnight’s Children, released in 1981. The novel, which depicts post-independence India, has won international acclaim and the prestigious British Booker Prize. But his 1988 book, The Satanic Verses, changed his life when Iran’s first supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa (religious edict) ordering his murder. I was. Some Muslims viewed the novel as disrespectful to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad (PBUH). Iran’s conservative media hailed Rushdie’s attack, with one state-run newspaper saying the “devil’s head” had been “cut off with a razor.” The ultra-conservative newspaper Cayhan, whose head is appointed by the current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, writes:

Born in India and a self-professed atheist, Rushdie was forced to go underground when a bounty was placed on his head. He was granted police protection by the British government where he attended school and built a house after the murder or attempted murder of a translator and publisher. He spent nearly ten years of his life in hiding, moving repeatedly and unable to tell even his children where he lived.

Rushdie began to emerge from his life on the run in the late 1990s after Iran said it would not support his assassination in 1998. Now living in New York, he is a free speech advocate. veteran of French satirical magazine Charlie Hebdo after the 2015 shooting of its staff by Islamists in Paris. He elicited a furious response from Muslims around the world.

French President Emmanuel Macron said the author “embodied freedom” and that “his fight is ours and that it is universal”, while world leaders expressed their support for Rushdie. British leader Boris Johnson, meanwhile, said he was “appalled” and sent his thoughts to Rushdie’s loved ones, saying, “We are exercising a right we must never stop defending.” U.S. National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan called it a “reprehensible attack” and said, “All of us in the Biden Harris administration wish him a speedy recovery.” I have,” he added.

“essential voice”

Threats and boycotts of literary events attended by Rushdie continue, and Rushdie’s knighting by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 sparked protests in Iran and Pakistan. Fatwas and other threats failed to suppress Rushdie’s writing and inspired his memoir “Joseph Anton”. His memoir “Joseph Anton”, named after him during his hiding, was written in third person. Over 600 pages of Midnight’s Children have been adapted for stage and silver screen, and his books have been translated into over 40 languages.

Suzanne Nossel, director of the PEN America organization, said free speech advocates were “shocked and horrified.” “A few hours before the attack, on Friday morning, Salman emailed me to help locate Ukrainian writers who needed a safe haven from the grave danger they faced,” Nossel said. said in a statement. “Our thoughts and passions are now with the brave Salman and wish him a full and speedy recovery. I fervently hope and believe that there is none.”