Author of ‘Satanic Verses’, Rushdie, stabbed on stage in U.S.

The author of ‘Satanic Verses’, Salman Rushdie, has been stabbed on stage at an event in New York, United States.

Police in New York said the author was wounded in the neck on Friday before he was conveyed to a hospital in a helicopter.

His condition could not be ascertained at the moment.

Rushdie was billed to give a talk at the Chautauqua Institution as part of a lecture series on writers exiled under threat of persecution.

An eyewitness said Rushdie was attacked by a man who hopped on stage while he was being introduced.

“The man began stabbing or punching Rushdie, who fell to the floor. The man was then restrained and taken into custody by a state trooper,” the eyewitness said.

Photos and video from the scene showed staffers tending to Rushdie, who was later helped off stage.

Police said the founder of a literary non-profit, Henry Reese, who was appearing onstage alongside Rushdie, suffered a minor head injury.

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New York Governor, Kathy Hochul, condemned the attack on Rushdie, who she said “has spent decades speaking truth to power”.

“We want people to feel that freedom to speak and to write truth and I will continue to protect that every single day as your governor,” Hochul said.

The governor also commended the state police officer who “stood up and saved Rushdie’s life”.

Rushdie, 75, has been the targeted with death threats and assassination attempts since the 1988 publication of ‘The Satanic Verses’, a book Muslims find offensive.

The book was banned in Iran. The following year, Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.

A bounty of over $3 million was placed on him which forced the author into hiding for nearly a decade.

In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir about the fatwa entitled ‘Joseph Anton’ – the pseudonym he used while in hiding.

The Star