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 confront Rushdie as he was being introduced on stage at the Chautauqua Institution and punch or stab 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, though New York Gov. Kathy Hochul later said he was alive and “getting the care he needs.”
His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was undergoing surgery, but had no further details to add.
Event moderator Henry Reese, co-founder of an organization that provides residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked and suffered a minor head injury, police said.
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Amid groans, the spectators filed out of the amphitheater outside. Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the approximately 2,500 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.
After the attack, Rushdie was quickly surrounded by a small group of people holding his legs.
Another bystander, Kathleen Jones, said the attacker was dressed in black and wearing a black mask.
“We thought maybe it was part of a stunt to show that there is still a lot of controversy surrounding this author,” he said, noting that it soon became clear that it was no stunt.
Bloodstains mark a screen as author Salman Rushdie, behind the screen, is treated after being attacked during a lecture Friday at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y. (Joshua Goodman/The Associated Press)
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 book The Satanic Verses, first published in 1988, was considered 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 Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death in 1989. Khomeini died later that year.
Iran’s current leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, has never withdrawn the fatwa, although in recent years, Iran has not focused on the writer.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s attack.
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.
He has said he is proud of his fight for free speech, saying in a 2012 talk in New York that terrorism is really the art of fear.
“The only way to beat it is by choosing not to be afraid,” he said.
The fatwa still stands
Iran’s government has long since distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment has endured.
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.
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Although the author rose to prominence with his 1981 Booker Prize-winning novel, Midnight’s Children, 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, has served for more than a century as a place of reflection and spiritual guidance. Visitors do not pass through metal detectors or undergo baggage checks.
Police said a state agent had been assigned to Rushdie’s conference.
The Chautauqua Center is known for its summer lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken before.
Rushdie and Reese were prepared to discuss “the United States as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for creative freedom of expression.”