Freedom of expression is a value we hold dear and attempts to undermine it must not be tolerated. Salman Rushdie is on a ventilator and unable to speak after being stabbed on stage in the US, his agent says.
Andrew Wylie said the 75-year-old gunman could lose an eye after the attack at an event in upstate New York.
Mr. Rushdie hid under police protection in the UK in 1988 after Iran’s supreme leader ordered his assassination over his novel The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims considered blasphemous.
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Police arrested a suspect named Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey. New York State Police said the suspect ran onto the stage and assaulted Rushdie and an interviewer at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York state. Rushdie was stabbed at least once in the neck and abdomen, authorities said. He was taken to a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania by helicopter.
Satanic Verse Author Critical
No motive or charges have yet been confirmed by police, who are in the process of obtaining search warrants to examine a backpack and electronics found at the center.
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Police told a news conference that staff and bystanders had held the attacker on the ground, where he was arrested. A doctor in the audience administered first aid to Mr. Rushdie.
The interviewer who was at Mr.Rushdie, Henry Reese suffered a minor head injury and was taken to a local hospital. Mr. Reese is a co-founder of a non-profit organization that provides refuge for writers in exile who are threatened with persecution.
Linda Abrams, a Buffalo viewer, told the New York Times that the assailant continued to attempt to attack Mr. Rushdie after he was pinned down.
“It took like five men to pull him away and he was still stabbing,” Ms. Abrams said. “He was just furious, furious. Like intensely strong and just fast.”
“On August 12, 2022, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation arrested Hadi Matar, 24 of Fairview, NJ for Attempted Murder 2nd degree (B Felony) and Assault 2nd degree. Matar was processed at SP Jamestown and transported to Chautauqua County Jail.
Author’s work at a glance
The Indian-born writer Mr. Rushdie rose to fame in 1981 with Midnight’s Children, which sold over a million copies in the UK alone. But his fourth book, The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, forced him into hiding for nearly 10 years.
The surreal and postmodern novel provoked the outrage of some Muslims, who considered its content to be blasphemy – an insult to religion or God – and has been banned in some countries.
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Several people were killed in anti-Rushdie riots in India and Iran, and the British embassy in the capital Tehran was stoned. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed, while a few months later an Italian translator was also stabbed and the book’s Norwegian publisher, William Nygaard, was shot, but both survived.
Author Salman Rushdie was taken off his ventilator last night when he was hospitalized with serious injuries after being stabbed at a literary event in New York, according to multiple reports.
Here are the top 10 updates to this great story
- The president of the Chautauqua Institution, where the author was stabbed, said in a tweet that Salman Rushdie had his ventilator removed and he was talking. According to the Washington Post, Rushdie’s agent Andrew Wylie also confirmed the development.
- Hadi Matar, the 24-year-old man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie to death, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault in what prosecutors said was a “pre-planned” crime.
- Witnesses said Mr. Rushdie was about to speak at the event when the suspect climbed onto the stage and stabbed him before staff and others in the audience threw him to the ground. The interviewer, Ralph Henry Reese, also suffered a facial injury in the attack but was discharged from the hospital, police said.
- Salman Rushdie had to be flown to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. According to his agent, he could lose an eye, nerves in one of his arms were severed and his liver was damaged.
The culprit: Hadi Matar
Hadi Matar, suspected of stabbing to death Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie, pleaded not guilty to attempted second-degree murder and other charges in a New York court.
On Friday, Matar appeared in court on charges of attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault and was sentenced to the Chautauqua County Jail without bail.“On August 12, 2022, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation arrested Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, on charges of attempted second-degree murder (Crime B) and second-degree assault. Matar was arraigned in SP Jamestown and transported to the Chautauqua County Jail.
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It said the perpetrator suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and was flown to a nearby hospital. A suspect has been arrested. Now the author is stable.
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