Salman Rushdie on the floor after the attack in New York just as he was to deliver a lecture.
New York:
Author Salman Rushdie was attacked at an event in New York, US, on Friday just as he was about to give a lecture, said news agencies. Details were scarce, but the author’s writings have in the past led to death threats.
Following are the top developments in this big story:
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The area sheriff’s office told news agency AFP that “we can confirm there was a stabbing,” without giving further details. The Associated Press said its reporter witnessed a man storming the stage at Chautauqua Institution. Mr Rushdie was taken to hospital in a medical helicopter, videos from the area showed.
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After the attack, the author fell to the floor, and the man was restrained, as per news agency PTI. Mr Rushdie was quickly surrounded by a small group of people who held up his legs, presumably to send more blood to his chest, AP reported. His condition was not immediately known.
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Another person was introducing him before his lecture when the attacker jumped onto the stage. The Chautauqua Institution is in a rural part about 90 km from the city of New York. It is known for its summertime lecture series. Mr Rushdie has spoken there before.
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Delhi-based British writer William Dalrymple was among the first to react, hoping that Mr Rushdie wasn’t hurt. “A terrible day for literature, for freedom of speech and for authors everywhere. Poor poor Salman: I pray he’s not hurt and recovers quickly,” he tweeted.
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Mr Rushdie, 75, faced threats particularly in the late 1980s over his book, The Satanic Verses, which is banned in Iran since 1988 as it is alleged to be blasphemous towards Islam. There was also a reward out on his head by the Iranian top leader, though by 1998 the Iranian government said it wasn’t seeking to enforce that ‘fatwa’ or edict. It wasn’t clear if the attack is linked to that.
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A British citizen of Indian origin, Mr Rushdie has lived in the US for the past 20 years.
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His first novel came out in 1975, but one of his seminal works is about modern India, Midnight’s Children (1981), for which he won the Booker Prize.
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After the controversy over his fourth book, The Satanic Verses (1988), he remained out of the public eye. But, despite the threats, he produced several novels throughout the 1990s.
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In 2007, he was knighted — given the ceremonial title of ‘Sir’ — by Queen Elizabeth II for services to literature. He has produced over a dozen works, including non-fiction.
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In 2012, after an Iranian religious outfit renewed the bounty on him, he dismissed that threat, saying there was “no evidence” of people being interested in the reward, said the AP report. That year, he published a memoir, Joseph Anton, about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym he had used while in hiding.
