Author Salman Rushdie stabbed on lecture stage in New York
Community honors first responders with quilts during ceremony Thursday
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (AP) — Salman Rushdie, whose novel “The Satanic Verses” drew death threats from Iran's leader in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday by a man who rushed the stage as the author was about to give a lecture in western New York.
A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital and was undergoing surgery, police said. His condition was not immediately known.
Police identified the attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey. He was arrested at the scene and was awaiting arraignment. State police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said the motive for the stabbing was unclear.
An Associated Press reporter witnessed the attacker confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution and punch or stab him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. The author was pushed or fell to the floor, and the man was arrested.
Dr. Martin Haskell, a physician who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdie's wounds as “serious but recoverable.”
Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. Reese suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile.
A state trooper and a county sheriff's deputy were assigned to Rushdie's lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn't tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head offering more than $3 million for anyone who kills him.
Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the roughly 2,500 people in the audience. Amid gasps, spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater.
The assailant ran onto the platform "and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you're like, ‘What's going on?' And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten,” Savenor said. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds.
Another spectator, Kathleen Jones, said the attacker was dressed in black, with a black mask.
“We thought perhaps it was part of a stunt to show that there's still a lot of controversy around this author. But it became evident in a few seconds” that it wasn't, she said.
Matar, like other visitors, had obtained a pass to enter the institution's 750acre grounds, the president of the organization said.
The suspect's attorney, public defender Nathaniel Barone, said he was still gathering information and declined to comment.
Rushdie has been a prominent spokesman for free expression and liberal causes. He is a former president of PEN America, which said it was “reeling from shock and horror” at the attack.
“We can think of no comparable incident of a public violent attack on a literary writer on American soil,” CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement.
Rushdie's 1988 novel was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims, who saw a character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Across the Muslim world, often-violent protests erupted against Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim family.
At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 people in Rushdie's hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the book's Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived.
The book was banned in Iran, where the late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie's death. Khomeini died that same year.
Iran's current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasn't focused on the writer.
Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday's attack, which led a night news bulletin on Iranian state television.
The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall.
He said in a 2012 talk in New York that terrorism is really the art of fear. “The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid,” he said. Anti-rushdie sentiment has lingered long after Khomeini's decree. The Index on Censorship, an organization promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for his killing as recently as 2016.
An Associated Press journalist who went to the Tehran office of the 15 Khordad Foundation, which put up the millions for the bounty on Rushdie, found it closed Friday night on the Iranian weekend. No one answered calls to its listed telephone number.
In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie had used while in hiding.
Rushdie rose to prominence with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel “Midnight's Children,” but his name became known around the world after “The Satanic Verses.”
Widely regarded as one of Britain's finest living writers, Rushdie was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honor, a royal accolade for people who have made a major contribution to the arts, science or public life.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that he was “appalled" that Rushdie was stabbed "while exercising a right we should never cease to defend."
The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. Visitors don't pass through metal detectors or undergo bag checks. Most people leave the doors to their century-old cottages unlocked at night.
The center is known for its summertime lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken before.
“We were founded to bring people together” to learn and look for solutions to major problems, institution President Michael Hill said. “Now we're called to take on fear and the worst of all human traits: hate.”
No matter the branch, no matter the service, the sacrifice was made and deserving of honor. On Thursday evening, the community came together to recognize three local first responders in a Quilt of Valor ceremony. Honorees included Big Spring Police Department’s Samuel Mpagi, Howard County Sheriff’s Office Mark Daily, and Big Spring Fire Department’s Austin Childers.
“The individuals being awarded here this evening first served our nation in military service and now continue to serve in civil capacity as first responders for their community,” Ed Meiser, DAV of Big Spring Commander, said.
“As a past Quilt of Valor recipient
I felt honor and recognition, but also humbled and undeserving. When that quilt was wrapped around me that day, I asked ‘Why me Lord?’ as many veterans do that lost comrades … why was I spared over them. Why did plans change that I was not on that helicopter that day that was shot down … with all aboard being killed. My friends, like real heroes, many did not come back alive and many are still missing.”
Commander Meiser continued, “It doesn’t matter what you served as a mission, you and your family sacrificed for our country and our freedom … with that you deserve recognition, honor, respect from a grateful nation. From one veteran to another, we got your back.”
The Quilt of Valor ceremony honoring first responders took place at
the Dora Roberts Community Center and was opened up with the presentation of colors by members of the Boy Scouts and Cross Roads Young Marines followed by the National Anthem sung by Nichole Negron.
Before the veterans were presented with their quilt, Howard County Judge Kathryn Wiseman shared appreciation on behalf of Howard County. In her speech she rendered honor to those who have served our country, especially those three being honored. Following, Big Spring City Manager Todd Darden also shared appreciation on behalf of the citizens of the community.
"There is less than one percent of our population who have chosen to live a life of service to their country. It is important that we honor those brave men and women for that service,"
Mike Tarpley said. "The Quilt of Valor presentation is designed to show veterans that they do not have to travel the road alone and whether they are surrounded by family and friends or far from them, they are not forgotten and there are those who are thinking of them."
Howard County Sheriff Deputy Mark Daily served in the United States Air Force from 1975 until he retired in 1994. While in the service he was stationed in the San Antonio area, Idaho, and Abilene. Daily completed technical school and ground defense training in December 1975 at Lackland AFB. His first duty assignment was also at Lackland AFB until 1979 where he served as a law enforcement specialist, criminal