Sir Salman Rushdie: Satanic Verses author may lose eye and is on ventilator after he was stabbed, says agent | US News
Author Salman Rushdie will likely lose an eye and suffer a nerve cut in an arm and liver damage after he was stabbed, his representative said.
The 75-year-old remains on a ventilator after being rushed to the hospital and undergoing hours of surgery following the attack in New York state.
Andrew Wylie said: “This is not good news.
According to eyewitnesses, the British-Indian author was being introduced to the audience before giving a presentation at the Chautauqua Institute when a man burst into the stage and began to attack him.
Like Sir Salman fell to the floor, the man was crushed by spectators and staff running across the stage. The suspect was arrested shortly after by a state soldier and is currently in custody.
The medics put on a display as they tend to the author’s wounds. Photo: AP
He was identified as Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey, who purchased tickets for the event. Police say they still don’t know the motive for the assault, but they believe the suspect acted alone.
Image of a person being detained outside the Chautauqua Institute. Photo: AP
Read more: Why is Salman Rushdie controversial?
Witness Pilar Pintagro told Sky News: “We were very scared because the first place (he was stabbed) was in the neck and that’s where the blood started splatter everywhere, then he stabbed him in the shoulder and continued. stabbed many times because it was too fast.
“Everybody from the audience actually jumped on stage to try to knock him down and Salman was trying to get away from this guy, but he kept stabbing several times, and he was finally pinned down. “
Sir Salman was taken to the hospital
‘Shocked’
The writer was helped by a doctor present in the auditorium before emergency services arrived.
Police said the event moderator, Henry Reese, suffered minor head injuries after being attacked.
Another witness Julia Mineeva Braun told Sky News that as Sir Salman was being introduced “suddenly from the left side of the stage, a short man, (wearing) all black, came running out, and he I approach Lord Rushdie.”
“Very quickly…we thought he was fixing his microphone, and then we saw the knife. He started stabbing his neck first…and Mr. Rushdie got up and started running. We are still in shock.”
Sir Salman lives in New York City and became a US citizen in 2016. His lecture is expected to discuss America’s role as a refuge for writers and artists in exile. , and as a home for free creative expression.
Photo: AP
Rushdie’s fourth book, The Satanic Verses, was banned in 1988 in several Muslim-majority countries, including Iran, after being criticized by some for blasphemous passages.
In 1989, then-Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a decree or Fatwa, calling for the death of Sir Salman.
The Middle Eastern country also offers a bounty of more than $3 million to anyone who kills the writer.
