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NEW YORK, Aug. 13 (PTI) Salman Rushdie is on a ventilator due to liver damage and may lose an eye as the Mumbai-born controversial writer lives in New York state He was stabbed in the neck and stomach by a man during a speaking engagement in 2008, sending shockwaves across the literary world condemning the incident as an attack on free speech.
“It’s not good news,” said Andrew Wiley, the 75-year-old writer’s agent, as Rushdie, who was bleeding Friday, was airlifted from a site near the Western New York site to a hospital in northwest Pennsylvania and received surgical treatment. a couple of hours.
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Rushdie, who faced Islamic death threats for years after writing “The Satanic Verses,” was stabbed on stage by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident while he was being introduced at a literary event at the Western Chautauqua Agency, The resident was identified as Hadi Matar. New York.
“Salman could lose an eye; a nerve in his arm was cut; his liver was stabbed and damaged,” Wylie told The New York Times.
Rushdie, who won the Booker Prize for his novel “The Midnight Child,” is still unable to speak, he said.
The suspect is from Fairview, New Jersey, state police unit commander Major Eugene J Staniszewski said at a news conference Friday night.
Police are working with the FBI and local authorities to determine a motive.
A law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation told NBC News that an initial review of Matar’s social media accounts by law enforcement indicated that he was sympathetic to Shiite extremism and the IRGC’s causes.
Authorities are also working to obtain search warrants for several items found at the scene, including a backpack and electronic devices, Staniszewski said.
Responding to a question about the attacker’s nationality, Staniszewski said: “I don’t know yet.”
Authorities believe the suspect is alone but are investigating “to make sure the circumstances are true,” Staniszewski said, adding that “appropriate charges” will be determined as the investigation continues.
Rushdie’s fourth book, The Satanic Verses, in 1988, forced him to go into hiding for nine years.
The late Iranian leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, accused Rushdie of desecration of the book and issued a decree against him in 1989 calling for his execution. Rushdie’s writing led to death threats from Iran, which offered a $3 million reward for those who killed him.
Rushdie was stabbed on stage at Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit community on Lake Chautauqua in southwestern New York.
Staniszewski said Rushdie was treated by a doctor present before emergency medical personnel arrived at the scene.
Rushdie will speak at a special event in the Chautauqua Lecture Series titled “More Than a Sanctuary” to “discuss America as a refuge for exiled writers and other artists, and as a home for freedom of creative expression.”
He was joined by Henry Rees, co-founder of Pittsburgh’s nonprofit City of Sanctuary, the world’s largest residency program for writers facing the threat of persecution in exile.
Staniszewski said Rushdie and Reese, 73, had just arrived on the Chautauqua College stage for the event at about 10:47 a.m. local time. “Shortly after, the suspect jumped onto the stage and attacked Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen.”
Staniszewski said several agency staff and spectators rushed the suspect and brought him to the ground. The suspect was taken into custody by an officer with the agency’s New York State Police, assisted by the Chautauqua County Sheriff’s deputy.
Authorities said Reese was taken by ambulance to a local hospital where he was treated for facial injuries before being released.
“We were deeply shocked and appalled to hear that Salman Rushdie was attacked while speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in New York. We condemn this violent public attack and we stand with Salman at this distressing time. Man and his family,” Marcus Dole, CEO of Penguin Random House, tweeted.
National Security Adviser Jack Sullivan condemned the “appalling” attack and said members of the Biden-Harris administration were praying for his speedy recovery.
New York Gov. Kathy Hocher called the attack “horrific,” saying she had directed state police to “further assist with the investigation, but it needs to be investigated.”
“This is a man who has spent decades telling the truth to power, who has been out there, unafraid, despite the threats that have accompanied him throughout his adult life,” Hocher said.
A leading literary organisation has expressed ‘shock and horror’ over Rushdie’s ‘savage, premeditated’ attack.
“Our former president and staunch ally Salman Rushdie was brutally and premeditated,” PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement. , American Pen would be shocked and terrified. “
“We cannot think of similar incidents of open violence against literary writers on American soil,” she said.
Cautauqua Institute president Michael Hill said the group was holding Rushdie and Reese and their families “in close prayer at this time”.
“The events we experience today at Chautauqua are unlike anything in our nearly 150-year history…”
“Today, we are asked to take on fear and the worst of all human traits. Hate,” Hill said.
(This is an unedited and auto-generated story from the Syndicated News feed, the body of the content may not have been modified or edited by LatestLY staff)
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