Writer Salman Rushdie was attacked with a knife. the attacker was arrested

Bleeding 75-year-old Salman Rushdie was airlifted to a hospital where he had surgery. His manager, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was on a ventilator Friday night, had a damaged liver, severed nerves in his arm, and likely lost an eye.

Police determined the attacker was Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey. The person detained at the scene is awaiting his transfer to the courthouse. Matar was born ten years after the publication of “The Satanic Verses.” State Police Major Eugene Staniszewski said the motive for the attack was unclear.

An Associated Press reporter saw the attacker confront Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institute and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as he was introduced. The perpetrator was pushed or fell to the ground and the man was arrested.

Doctor Martin Haskell, who was among those who came to help, described Rushdie’s injuries as “serious but curable”.

Rushdie’s 1988 novel was considered blasphemous by many Muslims, who, among other objections, saw the character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad. Violent protests have often erupted in the Muslim world against Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim family.

BREAKING: Author Salman Rushdie was attacked while he was about to give a lecture in western New York. Year @AP The reporter witnessed a man go on stage at the Chautauqua Institute and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced. https://t.co/bVTbfkLjyL

— Associated Press (@AP) August 12, 2022

At least 45 people have died in riots linked to the book, including 12 in Rushdie’s hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived the knife attack. In 1993, the Norwegian publisher of the book was hit three times and survived.

The book was banned in Iran, where the late leader, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa or edict in 1989 demanding Rushdie’s death. Khomeini died the same year.

Death threats and a bounty forced Salman Rushdie into hiding under the UK government’s protection scheme that included a 24-hour armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years in solitary confinement and began discreetly in public.

He said at a conference in New York in 2012 that terrorism is truly the art of fear.

“The only way to beat him is to decide not to be afraid,” he said.

Rushdie rose to prominence with his 1981 Booker Prize-winning novel The Midnight Children, but gained worldwide fame after his title The Satanic Verses.

Widely regarded as one of Britain’s best living writers, Rushdie was honored by Queen Elizabeth II in 2008. He was knighted by Elizabeth and made a member of the Order of the Honorable Order earlier this year, a royal honor bestowed upon those who have made great contributions to the arts. , science or public life.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet that Rushdie was “attacked while exercising a right”, saying “we must never stop defending”.