Author stabbed in neck on stage
A MAN has been taken into custody after Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed on stage in New York state.
The 75-year-old Indian-born British author, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution when the incident occurred.
Sir Salman suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and was transported to hospital by helicopter where his condition remains unclear, state police said.
Sir Salman’s book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims view it as blasphemous and its publication prompted Iran’s then-leader Ayatollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his execution.
Sir Salman was due to speak to Henry Reese, from the City of Asylum organisation, a residency programme for writers living in exile under threat of persecution.
They were due to discuss America’s role as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression.
A statement from New York State Police said: “On August 12, 2022, at about 11am, a male suspect ran up on to the stage and
attacked Rushdie and an interviewer.
“Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital. His condition is not yet known.
“The interviewer suffered a minor head injury. A State Trooper assigned to the event immediately took the suspect into custody. The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene. More information will be released when it is available.”
New York governor Kathy Hochul told a press conference 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. But here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone who’s been out there unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life.”
Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnight’s Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981.
The author lived in hiding for many years in London under a British Government protection programme after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his execution over The Satanic Verses.
Finally, in 1998, the Iranian Government withdrew its support for the death sentence and Sir Salman gradually returned to public life.