Salman Rushdie is 'on a ventilator and may lose an eye' after being stabbed in the neck and abdomen ahead of an event in New York
In a press conference held in Jamestown, New York, police officials alleged the suspect jumped on stage and stabbed the writer at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen.Rushdie was at the event for a discussion of the United States as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression.
He was subjected to a fatwa and years of death threats after writing The Satanic Verses. In 1989 the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie.New York governor Kathy Hochul said that a state police officer saved his life and that of the moderator, who she said was also attacked.She added: "He is alive, he has been airlifted to safety.
One fan of the author wrote online: "Horrible to see these updates about the legendary writer Salman Rushdie, who's had a fatwa against him since 1989 for The Satanic Verses. His book Imaginary Homelands remains one of my favourite collection of essays. Hope he recovers from this." Boris Johnson said: "Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend.Rushdie spent a decade with police protection after the fatwa was issued against him and had previously said he received a ‘sort of Valentines card’ from Iran each year letting him know the country has not forgotten its vow.Hitoshi Igarashi, who translated The Satanic Verses into Japanese for Rushdie, was stabbed to death on the campus where he taught literature.
In Turkey, the book’s translator, Aziz Nesin, was the target of an arson attack on a hotel that killed 37.
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