Guwahati: Indian-born novelist Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed in the neck and torso in an attack in New York on Friday was airlifted to a hospital and may now have to lose an eye, informed police.
Rushdie was attacked while delivering a lecture on stage in New York on Friday. He had to undergo surgery, was placed on a ventilator, and was unable to speak for several hours following the incident. Writers and politicians all over the world have condemned the attack, calling it an attack on free expression.
“The news is not good,” wrote his book agent Andrew Wylie in an email. Salman will most likely lose one eye, have nerves in his arm severed, and his liver stabbed and damaged.”
A man rushed to the stage and lunged at the 75-year-old as he was being introduced ahead of his lecture at Western New York’s Chautauqua Institution.
Reportedly, attendees and security personnel dragged the attacker away from Rushdie, who had collapsed on the floor. Hadi Matar, 24, was apprehended. He had purchased an event ticket. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s then-supreme leader, issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill the novelist and anyone involved in the book’s publication.
“A man jumped up on the stage from I don’t know where and started what looked like beating him on the chest, repeated fist strokes into his chest and neck. People were screaming and crying out and gasping”, said an audience member, Bradley Fisher.
A doctor in the audience attended to the noted novelist while emergency services arrived. Henry Reese, the event’s moderator, was also injured in the head. Police stated that they were looking into the matter and collaborating with federal investigators to determine the motive. They avoided describing the weapon used in the attack.
Rushdie moved to the United Kingdom after being born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in former Bombay. He has long faced death threats for his novel “The Satanic Verses.” When it was first published in 1988, it was banned in countries with large Muslim populations because it allegedly contained blasphemous passages.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s then-supreme leader, issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill the novelist and anyone involved in the book’s publication.