Salman Rushdie is on a ventilator, cannot speak, and will likely lose an eye, after being stabbed up to 15 times on Friday by a suspect police have identified as a man from New Jersey ‘with sympathies toward the Iranian government.’
Authorities descended on the Fairview, New Jersey home of 24-year-old Hadi Matar hours after he allegedly attacked Rushdie onstage at a literary event in upstate New York.
The bloodied Rushdie, 75, who has been the subject of death threats from the Iranian regime since 1989, was airlifted to the hospital and his condition was updated by his agent Andrew Wylie shortly before 7 p.m.
Wylie released a statement saying that the news was not encouraging. Salman could lose his one eye. His nerves were cut in the arm. He also suffered severe liver damage.
Rushdie, who was being presented for CHQ 2022 in Chautauqua (near Buffalo) on Friday morning, was repeatedly attacked and stabbed.
Matar, who was said to have gained entry to the grounds via a pass by police, managed to get off the stage, before Rushdie intervened.
According to law enforcement sources, Matar was initially investigated by The New York Post. He was actually born nine years after Rushdie’s fatwa was issued.
Henry Reese was 73 and was a founder of the organization offering residencies to writers in exile. Rushdie and he were scheduled to talk about the United States’ role as refuge for writers in exile and artists.
Reese, who was taken from the hospital by his doctor on Friday, said that Rushdie is a ‘great defender of freedom speech and creativity’ and added, “The fact that such an attack can occur in the United States is indicative the threats to writers coming from many countries and many people and organizations.”
This labelled timeline of images shows Rushdie on stage before the attack happens, then the response, the arrest of assailant Hadi Matar, 24, and subsequent air ambulance
Salman Rushdie (75) was attacked by Hadi Matar. He is pictured here with Sheriff’s Deputies. The suspect approached Salman from the back and then stabbed him several times. He was quickly restrained on the floor and arrested.
On stage at the lecture theatre: Man thought to be Sir Salman Rushdie is seen on the left at the the Chautauqua Institution
After being stabbed, Salman Rushdie of Satanic Verse was helped by his friends.
Suspect held down on stage: An officer and another man are seen holding someone down on the stage – thought to be Matar
Suspect, Matar, is seen on the left being manhandled away by men while a group gather round wounded Rushdie to the right
After the attack on Salman Rushdie, he is taken by police.
British-born Booker Prize winner author Sir Salman Rushdie was threatened with death and issued a fatwah from Iran in 2018 for his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses. Today, Salman Rushdie was about to deliver a lecture in America on the role of America in writing exiles. He’s been in America since 2000.
Many Muslims reacted to Rushdie’s book as being blasphemous in the 1980s. At least 45 people died in the riots that followed over the book. It was eventually banned. Iran: Rushdie was banned after the Grand AyatollahRuhollahKhomeini (the late leader) issued a 1989 fatwa calling for Rushdie’s execution.
Rushdie fled to hide under the protection of the British government. Rushdie emerged nine years later after being in hiding. He is now living in America since 2000.
At the Chautauqua institution, 70 miles from Buffalo, was attacked. It hosts arts programs and is located in tranquil lakeside communities.
Carl LeVan of the American University was a political professor who witnessed Rushdie running onto Rushdie’s podium and’stabbed him repeatedly, viciously’.
LeVan, who is a Chautauqua resident, stated that the suspect tried to stab LeVan as many times possible before being subdued. He also said that Rushdie was trying to kill him.
Professor said that the professor heard panicked gasps from the crowd.
LeVan stated that he was shaken by the experience and added that Chautauqua is a place where he can be creatively free.
He said, “To see that it happened, to know it, it was horrible.” “What I witnessed today was the essence or intolerance.”
Photo: Witnesses restrain the attacker and a group of people rush to help the victim.
Rushdie, who had received medical assistance at the Upstate New York Event near Buffalo, was airlifted into a hospital.
The author was taken to the hospital by emergency medical personnel who arrived on the spot. According to a spokesperson from Chautauqua Institution where the event took place, he said that the institution was dealing with an “emergency situation”. At this moment, I cannot share any further information.
Pictured after the attack, witnesses and security personnel pinned down the suspected attacker of this author
Following the stabbing incident, James O’Callaghan, State Trooper of Ireland gave an update to his troops on Friday evening
John Stein, another witness to the attack, stated that the attacker stabbed on the right side, or neck, of John Stein. The blood was everywhere… erupting.’
Rushdie’s attackers had left blood on the wall. There was also blood on Rushdie’s chair.
Governor Kathy Hochul described the Rushdie attack as ‘heartbreaking’ and then confirmed that Rushdie is alive during a separate press conference.
She said that he was receiving care at a local facility and that an officer from the state police saved him’s life after the attack.
Hochul stated that Rushdie has’spent decades talking truth to power’.
The New York Times was told by a witness that Rushdie had been repeatedly stabbed and was now lying in an unspecified pool of his blood.
Rita Landman offered her help after the incident. She said that he seemed to be still alive, and did not need CPR.
Landman stated, “People were saying that he had a pulse. He has a pulse.
Outside the UPMC Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania. Author Salman Rushdie is being treated.
Pictured: The view taken from Hadi Matar’s house as FBI agents and police conduct a search
Pictured: A FBI agent enters the home of Salman Rushdie, 24-year-old Hadi Matear.
Matar faked a driving licence in the name of HEZBOLLAH commander, and she praised Iran’s Revolutionary Guard via social media
Roger Warner from Cleveland, Ohio was on the front row.
“I saw blood running down his cheek and around his eyes.”
Rushdie’s 42-year-old son Zafar (London, based) is well aware of the incident. His father was seen getting transported via air ambulance following the attack.
Many people were shocked by the assault and evacuated when the attacker was caught.
John Bulette, 85 years old, witnessed the attack and said, ‘There was an enormous security lapse. It was terrifying that someone could come so close to the victim without intervention.
A security guard at the amphitheater claimed that Mr Rushdie was not protected and the Institution had no extra measures in place.
Kyle Doershuk, 20, said: ‘It’s very open, it’s very accessible, it’s a very relaxed environment, in my opinion something like this was just waiting to happen.’
According to a spokesperson from Chautauqua Institution, “We are currently dealing with an emergency situation.” At this moment, I cannot provide any further information.
Rabbi Charles Savenor claimed that the whole attack took around twenty seconds.
He stated, “This man ran up to the platform and began pounding Mr. Rushdie. At first, you are confused.
It was then obvious in just a few moments that he was being attacked.
The attack was not confirmed by the representative of the Iranian Interests Section at Washington D.C.’s Embassy in Pakistan.
American Embassy in Tehran represents Iran diplomatically.
After they told The New York Times that they were not involved, the couple hung up and refused to identify themselves.
Senator George Borrello called the attack’shocking’ and stated that there was no room for “beliefs which demand you kill someone disagreeing with you”.
He said, “This disturbing attack on a well-known author, apparently motivated by fundamentalist extremism has no place here in America.”
Rushdie was attacked on stage ahead of his speech in Chautauqua, with witnesses claiming he was ‘punched and stabbed’
Pictured: Some blood was seen on the wall where Rushdie was attacked. Others were also on a chair.
Rushdie received medical attention after the attack. Witnesses said Rushdie was attacked by a man who ‘punched’ him and then stabbed him as Rushdie was being announced.
Booker Prize winner Salman Rushdie was forced to hide for many years after Iran issued him a’spiritual” death threat.
Sir Salman Rushdie, a Booker Prize-winning novelist and author, is also a Booker Prize winner.
He was 75 years old when he was born in India. His writing is often focused on the theme of migrations and connections between Eastern and Western civilisations.
For his second book, Midnight’s Children (1981), he was awarded the Booker Prize. His work has been the subject of 30 full-length books, as well as over 700 articles.
Rushdie’s books have received wide praise for their historical fiction and magic realism.
Since 2000, he has lived in America. In 2015, he was appointed Distinguished Writer-in-Residence at New York University.
He was shortlisted five times for The Booker Prize.
Rushdie, 75 is an Indian-born, bestselling author and novelist.
Boris Johnson, the UK Prime Minister said that Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed in an attempt to exercise a right that we must never lose.
“Right now I am thinking of his loved ones. Everyone is praying that he is well.
Autor Ian McEwan made the following statement in regard to Rushdie:Salman, my friend and dearest friend was the victim of an acrimonious attack. This is an attack on freedom to think and speak.
“These freedoms are what underpin our rights and liberties.
Salman is an inspiring defender for journalists and writers across the globe.
“He is an ebullient and generous man, with immense talent and strength, who will never be discouraged.”
Tony Blair, his friend and then Prime Minister, knighted the author for his services to literature in Britain in 2007.
His last piece of writing was about an assassination attempt, serializing a novella called The Seventh Wave on Sub Stack, which appeared to focus on spies and assassinations.
Rushdie was threatened with death by the Taliban for publishing his book The Satanic Versses, which is alleged to have insulted The Koran and the Prophet Mohammed.
He wrote the Satanic Verses, which resulted in a culture war being sparked in 1988 in Britain – with protests taking place in the UK along with book burnings.
Pakistan banned the book, and he was issued a fatwa – a death sentence – by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989.
Khomeini, calling for Rushdie’s death and the deaths of his publishers, also asked Muslims to identify those who can kill him if possible.
Fatwa is a form of’spiritual opinions’. This followed an outbreak of violence and book burnings across Britain that resulted to 60 deaths and many injuries.
Rushdie was placed under 24/7 security, which cost the British taxpayer $3 million. He was then awarded a $3million bounty.
After being forced into hiding by police protection for 10 years, he said that every year he got a Valentines’ card from Iran to remind him of his vow not to be killed.
A semi-official Iranian religious organization raised Rushdie’s bounty from $2.8million to $3.3million in 2012.
Rushdie (who moved to America in 2000) was immediately surrounded by small groups of people, who raised their legs to try to get more blood.
Previous complaints by the author were that they had ‘too many’ security when attending other events.
He told reporters a the Prague Writer’s Festival: ‘To be here and to find a large security operation around me has actually felt a little embarrassing.
It was deemed unnecessary, excessive, and not in my best interest.
‘I spent a lot of time before coming here, saying that that this was not what I wanted.
“So, I was surprised to find a very substantial operation when I arrived here. It felt almost like I was in a time warp and had gone back several years.
Rushdie was a former president for PEN America. Their current CEO Suzanne Nossel issued a statement stating that PEN America’s former President, and stalwart ally Salman Rushdie had been stabbed repeatedly while he was speaking at Chautauqua Institute upstate New York.
“We cannot think of any comparable public violence attack against a writer living in America.
“…Just hours before the attack Salman had emailed to me Friday morning, asking me for help in helping with placements of Ukrainian writers in safe refuge from grave perils.
After Rushdie’s Friday flight via an air ambulance, police remain at the Chautauqua institution.
After Rushdie was assaulted in front of thousands, hundreds of people rushed to Rushdie’s aid.
Salmn Rushdie, who was taken urgently to the hospital by air ambulance and is now on a ventilator. He may lose an eye.
Andrew Wylie, his agent, stated that the author is currently under surgery due to his injuries but didn’t have any update.
For decades, Salman Rushdie was targeted because of his words. But he never faltered or flinched. His tireless efforts have been directed at helping others, both vulnerable and threatened.
While we are not privy to the motivations and origins of the savage attack on the writer, it is clear that all the people around the world who used violence against the author or called for the same were responsible for legitimizing his assault while he was doing the essential job of connecting with readers.
“Our thoughts, passions and prayers now rest with our courageous Salman. We wish him a speedy and complete recovery.
“We pray and believe that God’s essential voice can and will not be muted.”
Hitoshi Igarashi was the translator of The Satanic Verses in Japanese for Rushdie and was killed by a knife on campus.
Ettore Capriolo was the translator from Italy of the book. He was found in Milan and knifed.
The novel’s Norwegian publisher William Nygaard, was shot three times outside his home and left for dead in October 1993, but survived the attack.
Aziz Nesin (the book’s translator) was killed in an arson attack at a Turkish hotel.
Rushdie wrote an earlier fatwa memoir of 655 pages. It was also nominated to the Samuel Johnson Prize, Britain’s highest non-fiction award.
He lived in constant terror during the fatwa and thought that his ex-wife Clarissa Luard had been murdered or kidnapped.
The 1998 Iranian reformist president loosen the fatwa, stating that it did not intend to track Rushdie down or kill him.
Although technically it is valid, enforcement of the rule will not be possible.
According to the Index on Censorship (an organization that promotes free expression), money was used as a reward for his murder as recently as 2016. This underlines the fact that his fatwa remains.
Two children have he had from his four marriages. His other son, Milan is his name. But he has also been associated with several women like Riya Sen in India.
Prince Charles, reportedly refusing to support the author during the fatwa due to his opinion that the book was offensive to Muslims.
Martin Amis, Vanity Fair’s magazine editor claimed that Rushdie’s views led to a dispute at a dinner party following Rushdie being executed by Islamic clerics.
Amis asserts that Charles informed him that he won’t support someone who insults the deepest convictions of another person.
Amis had a dispute with Charles, but Charles simply ‘took it aboard’, despite Rushdie being a British-Indian citizen.
Stephen King, a fellow author refused to allow American bookstores to sell his books if the store did not carry The Satanic Verses.
Rushdie previously spoke at Chautauqua, which is situated 55 miles from Buffalo in a rural corner New York.
It’s well-known for its lecture series in the summer.
Rushdie, who was four-times married, has had high-profile affairs that included Padma Lakshmi, Olivia Wide and other models many decades older than him.
Clarissa Luard was his first woman, whom he met at a UK pop concert in 1969. They married in 1976, and had their son Zafar three year later.
They split in 1987. However, Rushdie and her husband remained good friends. Rushdie, according to reports, stayed with Rushdie when Rushdie died of breast cancer at 50.
Rushdie is married to Elizabeth West Salman three times. The couple married in 1994 and two had a son, Milan, in 1999
Rushdie credits his success in love to his intellect, as well as his ‘good looks. They were photographed together in 2008 at the Washington Correspondents’ Dinner.
Salman Rushdie (right), with Padma Lakshimi, his fourth wife and model. They attended the Cannes Film Festival 2004.
Rushdie, who had been married twice by the passing of Luard, was now a widower. In 1988, he married Marianne Wiggins (a Pulitzer Prize Finalist from America) and in 1997 he was appointed editor of Elizabeth West.
Rushdie, who was present with Wiggins during the backlash against The Satanic Verses. Rushdie stated that he had heard critics about his Jewish wife making him write it.
Rushdie stated that at its most painful, it was directed towards me by Muslims. They said that my [second]She was Jewish. She was not Jewish, she was American.
Wiggins was in hiding for some time after their divorce in 1993. In the year following, Rushdie married Elizabeth West and they had a son in 1999, Milan.
Rushdie stated previously that West (an author and editor) and Rushdie began to fall apart as he sought to go to America, and she desired to continue living in Britain and having another child.
The couple split after a miscarriage in 2004. Rushdie, who had just separated from West, immediately jumped into pop celebrity life, and married Padma Lakshmi, a Top Chef host in 2004.
They had first met in 1999, at Tina Brown’s lavish New York City party. Lakshmi says that Rushdie had an affair with Lakshmi at the party and promised to return to her when his turbulent marriage to West is over.
Fury (Rushdie’s 2001 novel), was dedicated in Lakshmi’s honor. Lakshmi had just turned 28 at the time, while Rushdie was now 51.
Rushdie was married to Lakshmi for more than 10 years in the past, but their union lasted only three years. The novelist describes her as an ‘unwise investment’, who is overly ambitious and narcissistic.
Lakshmi reacted to Rushdie’s comments in her memoirs by calling him “sexually dependent” and “insensitive to her endometriosis.”
Salman Rushdie’s 30-year life under the fatwa: The British author was forced to hide after Iran’s spiritual leader ordered him killed for his blasphemous Satanic Verses. But he had a normal New York lifestyle before his murder
JACK WRIGHT
After Iran’s dictatorship declared The Satanic Verses as blasphemy, he was forced to hide for the first time more than thirty years ago.
From ever-changing safe houses, constant armed guards and a new identity, to finally finding a new home in the US, British author Salman Rushdie has now been stabbed in the neck on stage in New York – the supposed beating heart of free speech and culture.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Supreme Leader of the Islamic republic, issued a fatwa – or religious ruling – calling on all Muslims to murder the celebrated atheist author and anyone involved in the publication of The Satanic Verses on February 14, 1989.
Rushdie is now 75 and was left to endure the weight of the fatwa’s shadows until Iran’s extreme regime lifted it in 1998.
But for nine years, the writer constantly between safe houses and was protected by round-the-clock armed guards. He even adopted an alias, Joseph Anton – a combination of the first names of two of his favourite writers, Conrad and Chekhov.
The fatwa also led to the murder of the book’s Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi, the targeting of its translators and publishers in Turkey, Norway and Italy, and worldwide Riots and book-burnings were common, while The Satanic Verses was also banned in several countries.
Sir Salman Rushdie with a copy The Satanic Verses, during an Arlington news conference 1992
Speaking about the controversy with the Mail, Sir Salman said: ‘Being under the fatwa was a jail, but I think that one of the problems is that from the outside it looked glamorous, as I sometimes showed up in places in Jags with people jumping out to open the door and make sure you get in safely and so on. It’s amazing to see who he believes he is. From my point of view, it was like being in jail.
“It was a crude argument that it was done for my own personal gain, fame or money. The most unpleasant part was when they said that it was because I did it for the Islamic Jews. They told me my [second]The wife was Jewish. It wasn’t so, she was American.
“If I wanted to simply trade on an insult against Islam, I could have done so in a sentence instead of writing a novel that is 250,000 words long. It would be a piece of fiction.
Muslim activists beat an incendiary of Salman Rushdie to death in New Delhi
“What is important to understand is that the Satanic Verses are not Islam the Prophet or Mohammed. The country isn’t called Arabia. It all takes place in the dreams of someone who has lost their mind.
It is shocking to him that there were no British radical Muslims involved in his assassination plot.
“There have been occasions like the one in Manchester where Muslim leaders told their congregation: “Tell me, who among this crowd would kill Rushdie?” Everybody in the audience raised their arms. This was deemed acceptable by the police.
He says, “Supposing you were Queen.” An imam told his congregation: “Who would be willing to kill Queen?” Everyone raised their hands. Do you believe the police won’t do what they say?
“I use only the Queen to illustrate this, but it seems strange that, when it’s a foreign-born novelist, it’s allowed to occur with impunity.
Rushdie recalls that his separation from Marianne was a very traumatic experience. According to her, the CIA knew about Rushdie’s location and so she blew his cover. He realized she was lying and decided to end their relationship.
‘It was very shocking. It was very difficult for me to decide whether or not I wanted to go it alone during the hurricane without anyone to share my company, or if I needed to live with someone who was hard to believe in.
“It was horrible to hear a cop tell me that my wife had been lying. This is something most people don’t get to experience. And then for her to say that it was the police who were to be blamed and that I shouldn’t trust them sets a kind of mindf*** and I had to make my judgments.
“It was impossible to believe in her veracity. In the end, I decided it was best to part ways.
He said these words in an interview from three years back: ‘Islam wasn’t a concept. That was not the way people thought. The West is now more knowledgeable than it was in the past.
He ruefully added: ‘I was 41 back then, now I am 71. Everything is fine. The world is changing fast and the subject matter changes frequently. This is an old topic. You have many more things to fear – as well as other people to murder’.