Salman Rushdie was about to give a speech at the Chautauqua Institution near New York city when he was attacked. The New York State Police arrested the attacker Hadi Matar, 24, from New Jersey.
Author Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and abdomen at a literary event in New York, US, on friday. The 75 year old is on ventilator and could lose an eye.
Rushdie’s agent said that he suffered severed nerves in an arm and damage to his liver, and could lose an eye. “The news is not good,” Andrew Wylie his agent said.
Salman Rushdie was about to give a speech at the Chautauqua Institution near New York city when he was attacked. Around 2500 people were present in the event, who were evacuated later.
When Rushdie was on stage, a person rushed to the stage and stabbed him repeatedly. The visuals and images circulating on social media showed that the people caught the suspect and took him to the ground, before a trooper present at the event arrested him.
A doctor in the audience administered medical care until emergency first responders arrived. Then, the Rushdie was airlifted to a hospital in Pennsylvania.
Henry Reese, the interviewer, also suffered a minor head injury in the attack.
The New York State Police arrested the attacker Hadi Matar, 24, from New Jersey. The reason behind this attack is unclear yet.
The Governor of New York Kathy Hochul condemned the attack on Rushdie. She said, “Today’s attack on Salman Rushdie was also an attack on some of our most sacred values — the free expression of thought. We condemn all violence. We stand up to attacks on our fundamental rights. And we remain firm in our commitment to freedom to speak and to write truth.”
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Salman Rushdie received a lot of recognition worldwide after his second novel “Midnight’s Children” in 1981. He also won the prestigious Booker prize for this novel.
An Indian-origin British citizen living in the US for the past 20 years. He has faced threats for decades over his 1988 book “The Satanic Verses”. Some clerics considered this novel as disrespectful to the Prophet Mohammed.
Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued his infamous fatwa. He ordered execution of all those who were involved in publishing this book and he also offered rewards for this. After that, Salman Rushdie spent nearly a decade in hiding and kept changing his houses.
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