Police arrest suspect after Rushdie stabbed in neck
NEW YORK — Author Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the neck during an event in Chautauqua, New York, police say, adding that they have arrested the attacker.
“State Police are investigating an attack on author Salman Rushdie prior to a speaking event at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y.,” police said in a statement.
They said a male suspect ran up onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer, the statement said.
Rushdie, 75, suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and was flown by helicopter to an area hospital, police said. His condition is not yet known.
“A State Trooper assigned to the event immediately took the suspect into custody. The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene,” the statement said.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul said by Twitter, “Our thoughts are with Salman & his loved ones following this horrific event.
“I have directed State Police to further assist however needed in the investigation,” she tweeted.
Because of his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses,” a fatwa was issued against Rushdie by then-Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini calling for the author’s death. Some Muslims felt their religious sensibilities were offended by the work.
Whether Friday’s attack was at all related to the decades-old fatwa was unclear.
Rushdie was born in the Indian metropolis of Mumbai (then Bombay) in 1947, the year of Indian independence.
He later studied history at Cambridge University in Britain. He had his breakthrough as an author with the book “Midnight’s Children,” which was awarded the prestigious Booker Prize in 1981.
In it, he tells the story of India’s detachment from the British Empire based on the life stories of protagonists who are born at the precise moment of independence and are endowed with supernatural abilities.
In all, Rushdie has published more than two dozen fiction, non-fiction, and other writings.