Salman Rushdie, whose writing drew death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked and apparently stabbed in the neck on Friday by a man who rushed the stage while the author was about to give a lecture in Western New York.
An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage while Rushdie was being introduced to the Chautauqua Institution and begin beating or stabbing him 10 to 15 times. The 75-year-old perpetrator fell to the ground and the man was arrested.
Rushdie was airlifted to a hospital, state police said, noting that he had suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck. His condition was not immediately known.
Bloodstains mark a screen as author Salman Rushdie, behind the screen, is treated after being attacked during a lecture, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY (Joshua Goodman/ The Associated Press)
Amid groans, the spectators filed out of the amphitheater outside. Rabbi Charles Savenor was among hundreds of people in the audience when the attack took place.
“This guy ran up to the platform and started hitting Mr Rushdie. At first you were like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then it became very clear within seconds that he was being hit.”
Savenor said the attack lasted about 20 seconds.
A prominent spokesman for free speech and liberal causes, Rushdie is a past president of the nonprofit PEN America. The group said it was “reeling from shock and horror” at the attack.
“We cannot think of any comparable incident of a public violent attack against a literary writer on American soil,” CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement.
“Salman Rushdie has been the target of his words for decades, but he has never wavered or wavered.”
Death threats followed the novel
Rushdie’s 1988 book The Satanic Verses was seen as blasphemous by many Muslims. Often violent protests against Rushdie erupted around the world, including a riot that killed 12 people in Mumbai.
The novel was banned in Iran, where the late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
A reward of more than $3 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie.
Rushdie is seen posing with a copy of his book, Joseph Anton, in this photo taken in Berlin in October 2012. The title comes from the pseudonym Rushdie had used while in hiding. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)
Death threats and a bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, including a 24-hour armed guard.
Rushdie emerged after nine years in seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, keeping his criticism open to religious extremism in general.
The fatwa still stands
Iran’s government has long since distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment remained.
The Censorship Index, an organization that promotes free expression, said money was raised to increase the reward for his murder as recently as 2016, underscoring the fact that the fatwa on his death still stands.
In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir about life under the fatwa, titled Joseph Anton, which was the pseudonym Rushdie had used while in hiding.
Rushdie rose to prominence with his 1981 Booker Prize-winning novel, Midnight’s Children, but his name became known around the world after The Satanic Verses.
The Chautauqua Institution, about 90 miles southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, is known for its summer lecture series. Rushdie has spoken before.