British-Indian author, Salman Rushdie, lost sight in one eye and one hand incapacitated from a brutal attack in New York, says his agent.
Salman Rushdie's agent says the author has lost sight in one eye and the use of a hand as he recovers from an attack by a man who rushed the stage at one of the author's August literary events in New York. https://t.co/Ik98TXUrUM
— CBS News (@CBSNews) October 24, 2022
The author of The Satanic Verses suffered injuries from a brutal attack in western New York two months ago when he was about to deliver a lecture, losing sight in one eye and the use of one hand, his agent confirmed.
The 75 years old novelist, who started receiving death threats from Iran after the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988, was attacked on stage during a literary event as he was about to lecture on artistic freedom at the Chautauqua Institution on August 12. He was stabbed repeatedly in the neck and torso.
After the attack, the author was immediately rushed to a hospital. At the time, his agent said Rushdie suffered from nerve damage in his arm and wounds in his liver, and he will most likely lose an eye.
Salman Rushdie's agent says the author is on a ventilator and will likely lose one eye as a result of the attack. https://t.co/CKZcgpFVW8
— ABC News (@ABC) August 13, 2022
Although the details about Rushdie's injuries are unclear, Andrew Wylie, Rushdie's agent, explained how brutal and life-changing the attack was in an interview with Spanish language newspaper El Pais, saying that the wounds were "profound."
"He's lost the sight of one eye," said Wylie. "He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack."
The agent refused to disclose whether Rushdie is still in a hospital or not and where he is currently staying. He said that the most important part here is that the author will live.
In the past, Wylie and Rushdie discussed the possibility of such an incident. The "principal danger" was that a random stranger came out of nowhere and attacked, said Wylie. "So you can't protect against it because it's totally unexpected and illogical."
Thirty-three years ago, Iran's Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa (a legal ruling on the point of Sharia law) and ordered Muslims to assassinate Rushdie over the publication of The Satanic Verses. Many Muslim communities interpreted the novel passages as blasphemous against Prophet Muhammad. As a result, Indian-born Rushdie had to spend nine years hiding under British police protection.
The notorious fatwa against Salman Rushdie has a complicated history that still plays out, decades later, in Iran’s politics and relations with the U.S. https://t.co/Ad2xy9zvds
— The New Yorker (@NewYorker) August 14, 2022
Since the fatwa was never lifted, the multimillion-dollar bounty upon Rushdie's head kept increasing, as former president Mohammad Khatami's Iran's pro-reform government stayed away from the fatwa in the late 1990s.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the 2nd Supreme Leader of Iran and the successor of Khomeini, was suspended from Twitter three years ago for saying that the fatwa against Rushdie was "irrevocable."
Worth noting that #Iran's supreme leader's office reaffirmed the Khomeini fatwa against Salman Rushdie on Twitter as late as 2019--repeating language Khamenei used in 1990. Twitter later limited Khamenei's handle in response. pic.twitter.com/WXyGeQH6c4
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) August 12, 2022
Iran has denied having any connection with the August attack.
Twenty-four-year-old Hadi Matar, the man convicted of stabbing the writer, has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges. Currently, he is being held in a western New York jail without bail.
Salman Rushdie’s attacker identified as Hadi Matar, 24, a Lebanese immigrant sympathetic to Iran/Khomeini, who had issued the original fatwa https://t.co/wEmDVmUB5k
— Shiv Aroor (@ShivAroor) August 13, 2022
