Rushdie ‘believed danger was over and just wanted a normal life’

Author recently told interviewer that fatwa was in the past and he lived without tight security, but event organisers are criticised

‘We assess for every event what we think is appropriate for security. We had a sheriff and state trooper presence’

‘I was 36 when I started The Satanic Verses. I am 75 now. It’s been four decades’

SIR SALMAN RUSHDIE said he was living without tight security measures because he thought he was safe, just weeks before being brutally stabbed.

The author told a German magazine the fatwa issued against him by the Ayatollah Khomeini was “long ago” and that his life was now “relatively normal”.

Yesterday, questions were being raised about why Sir Salman’s attacker had not been required to undergo security checks that would have detected his knife before being allowed into the venue.

Organisers of the cultural festival where Sir Salman was speaking had reportedly rejected extra security measures because it would change the “friendly feel and openness” of the event, and create a barrier between speakers and their audience.

The Sunday Telegraph understands that the suspect, Hadi Matar, 24, would have passed by a police officer, and a sniffer dog trained to detect explosives, before entering the amphitheatre.

But the dog would not have detected a knife, and there were no metal detectors or bag searches conducted by hand, nor barriers around the stage to prevent anyone getting at the speakers.

New York state police did assign a trooper to the event, who was positioned next to the stage.

It was that officer who tackled the knifeman and ultimately arrested him, potentially helping to save Sir Salman’s life in the process.

The sheriff ’s office in the small town of Chautauqua had provided the “explosive detection K9”, which assisted in “clearing a bag the suspect had” before he entered, a police spokesman said yesterday.

Sir Salman was last night still on a ventilator at UPMC Hamot in nearby Erie, Pennsylvania.

There were no updates on the 75-year-old author’s condition but Andrew Wylie, his agent, said on Friday night: “The news is not good. Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”

Sir Salman was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution, a lakeside resort 70 miles south of Buffalo, New York’s second-largest city.

The institution is in a gated community and Matar had purchased a pass to get on to the grounds, just like other attendees.

Michael Hill, the institution’s president, defended the security measures they had put in place.

He said: “We assess for every event what we think the appropriate security level is, and this was certainly one that we thought was important, which is why we had a state trooper and sheriff presence there.”

But an usher who was 15ft away from the attack told The New York Times: “Something like this was just bound to happen.” Another former employee of the institution told the Daily Beast website that he was “absolutely disgusted” security suggestions such as metal detectors, the banning of bags from the hall and more guards, had all been rejected in recent years.

Sir Salman himself expressed his thoughts on the current security threat to him in an interview with Stern, the German magazine.

It was conducted two weeks ago but only published after the attack.

He told the magazine: “My life is very normal again. I was 36 when I started The Satanic Verses. I’m 75 now. It’s been four decades.”

He added that he believed that if social media had existed when he wrote the book, his situation would have been “infinitely more dangerous”.

The magazine reported that the author believed the danger was “over”.

However, in a discussion about political violence in the US, Sir Salman added: “The bad thing is, death threats have become commonplace. I’m an optimist by nature. I’m looking forward.”

On Friday at 10.47am, Sir Salman had just been seated on the stage alongside interviewer Henry Reese from City of Asylum, a programme for exiled writers, when his assailant struck.

Witnesses said the lack of security meant the attacker was able to jump on from the side of the stage unimpeded and begin stabbing the author.

One witness said she initially thought it was a “stunt” but within a few seconds realised it was a savage attack.

Members of the audience of about 2,500 people rushed on to the stage. Amid chaotic scenes, some jumped on the attacker.

Others tried to help Sir Salman, who was lying a few feet away, while a knife was seen falling to the floor of the stage. Paula Voell, a former reporter for the Buffalo News, who was in the audience, said: “There was horror, the whole audience reacted, and probably 15 spectators raced on to the stage to try to attend to him.”

A witness in the front row said: “It took five men to pull him [the attacker] away and he was still stabbing.

“He was just furious, furious. Like intensely strong and just fast.”

Afterwards, several dozen people formed a prayer circle, praying in English and Hebrew.

Ed Klotz, a witness to the attack, said: “I’ve been coming here 25 years, and I’ve never felt safety was a concern.”

In a statement, Jake Sullivan, President Joe Biden’s National Security Advisor, condemned the “reprehensible” attack. He said: “This act of violence is appalling. All of us in the Biden-Harris

Administration are praying for his speedy recovery.

“We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr Rushdie so quickly after the attack, and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing.”

The suspect, who lived seven hours drive away in New Jersey, was believed to have stayed the night before the event at the nearby Athenaeum Hotel.

He dined at the Heirloom restaurant in Chautauqua, where waiters said there was “little interaction” from him.

Chautauqua, a small town of 4,000 people in the far corner of western New York, plays host to an eclectic cultural programme each summer.

Writers and politicans and spiritual leaders gather to share their ideas, while opera singers and orchestra perform in the evenings. Sir Salman, who has previously attended the festival, was described in the event programme as “one of the most celebrated authors of our time”.

He was there to take part in a discussion about “the United States as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression”.

Sir Salman has lived in the United States since 2000.

Baroness D’Souza, a friend of the author, said Sir Salman had known a day might come when he could be attacked, despite living a freer life in the US.

She told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that two decades ago, the writer Graham Swift said at a dinner party: “I think there’s only one way this thing can end.”

“We all felt perhaps he’s right that the only way this is going to end is if Salman is actually attacked,” she said. “He lived with it for years and he knew. He knew.”