UNSIGHTLY LOSS
Attack on Rushdie ruins eye and hand
Salman Rushdie lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand after he was repeatedly stabbed during a literary event in upstate New York two months ago, his agent said.
The 75-year-old author, whose 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” forced him into hiding amid calls for his death, was stabbed in the neck and torso as he walked on stage to deliver a speech at the Chautauqua Institution on Aug. 12.
But the full extent of his injuries wasn’t revealed until Saturday, when his agent Andrew Wylie gave an update on his condition in an interview with the Spanish newspaper El País.
“[His wounds] were profound, but he’s [also] lost the sight of one eye,” said Wylie. “He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.”
The agent declined to say whether Rushdie is still being treated at the hospital, but said the important thing is that the worldfamous author will survive.
Long feared
Wylie added the possibility of an attack was something on both their minds.
“I think the attack was probably something that Salman and I have discussed in the past, which was that the principal danger that he faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed is from a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking [him],’ Wylie said.
“So, you can’t protect against that because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like John Lennon’s murder,” he added.
New Jersey resident Hadi Matar, 24, who was arrested in Rushdie’s stabbing, pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges in August.
New York State Police said Rushdie was about to begin his scheduled lecture when Matar charged the stage with a knife in hand, stabbing the British author in the neck and torso.
Rushdie spent nearly a decade in hiding after “The Satanic Verses” was published, angering some who called the novel blasphemous. A religious edict known as a fatwa, calling on Muslims to kill Rushdie, was issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian leader, a year after the book’s publication.