The Indian-born British author, who has received death threats over his 1988 book, The Satanic Verses, is on a ventilator after being stabbed at least twice, including once in the liver. According to his agent, he is expected to lose an eye.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet that he was “horrified” by the incident and expressed his support for Rushdie’s recovery.
“Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we must never stop defending. My thoughts are with his loved ones right now. We all hope he is well,” Johnson said on Friday.
French President Emmanuel Macron also tweeted his support for Rushdie after the attack.
“[For] 33 years old, Salman Rushdie has embodied freedom and the fight against obscurantism. He has just been the victim of a cowardly attack by the forces of hatred and barbarism. His struggle is our struggle; it is universal. Now more than ever, we stand by them,” Macron said.
Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also condemned the attack, calling it “sick and cowardly”.
“This senseless violence against a famous author is also an assault on global freedom of expression and deserves unequivocal condemnation. May he fully recover,” added Albanese.
The 75-year-old novelist, the son of a successful Muslim businessman in India, was educated in England, first at Rugby School and later at Cambridge University, where he graduated with a degree in history .
He later spent a decade under British protection after his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, prompted Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to issue a religious decree, or fatwa , calling for his death.
The bounty against Rushdie has never been lifted, but in 1998 the Iranian government tried to distance itself from the fatwa by promising not to try to carry it out.
But in February 2017, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reaffirmed the religious edict.
And in 2019, Khamenei tweeted that he said Khomeini’s fatwa against Rushdie was “solid and irrevocable,” prompting Twitter to place a restriction on his account.
Iranian-born German politician Bijan Djir-Sarai blamed the Iranian government for the attack, saying in a tweet on Friday: “The Iranian mullahs’ regime is also responsible for this cowardly attack. Anyone who if he wants normal relations with this regime he should know that.”
The suspect in the attack has been identified as Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey. There has been no official reaction from Iran to the attack yet.
However, several hardline Iranian newspapers praised Matar on Saturday, including the conservative Kayhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Khamenei.
“A thousand bravos, a hundred God bless. His hand must be kissed… Bravo to the warrior and obedient man who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie. The warrior’s hand must be kissed. He tore the vein in Rushdie’s neck.” the paper said.
Another hard-line newspaper, Khorasan, ran a headline, “The Devil on the Road to Hell” while showing a picture of Rushdie on a stretcher.
The news has shocked authors across South Asia and the diaspora, including Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, who said she was “shocked” by the news.
“I never thought it would happen. He has lived in the West and been protected since 1989,” said Nasreen, who is known for her writings on the oppression of women and has received some of her books in Bangladesh.
“If he is attacked, anyone who is critical of Islam can be attacked. I am concerned,” she said.
Aatish Taseer, a British-American writer and journalist who had his Overseas Citizen of India (OCI) card – a form of permanent residency available to people of Indian origin – revoked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi on 2019, said he was “devastated” by the news.
“Devastated by the news about @SalmanRushdie. He was the first writer I ever met and his determination to stand up for his freedom (and that of others) in the face of religious extremism has been a constant inspiration. I know he will be fine. he must be,” said Taseer.
American writers and organizations have also been left reeling from the attack. Rushdie has been living in the United States for the past few years.
The press freedom group PEN America said in a statement Friday that the organization is “reeling from shock and horror” after Friday’s attack.
“We can think of no comparable incident of a public attack on a literary writer on American soil,” said Suzanne Nossel, CEO.
“Salman Rushdie has been the target of his words for decades, but he has never wavered or wavered,” Nossel said. “He has devoted tireless energy to helping others who are vulnerable and threatened.”
Nossel also said that hours before the attack, Rushdie had emailed him asking for help in finding a safe haven for “Ukrainian writers who need safe haven from the grave dangers they face.”
CNN’s Eyad Kourdi, Jake Kwon, Alex Stambaugh, Jonny Hallam and Ramin Moshtaghian contributed reporting.