Salman Rushdie risks his eye, "cutting the nerves of the arm"

For more than 30 years under the threat of death from Iran and Islamic extremism, Writer Salman Rushdie He risks losing an eye after being stabbed at a literary festival in upstate New York. book author Satanic Verses He underwent a lengthy surgery after being taken to hospital by helicopter and is now connected to a ventilator, severely damaging his arm and liver. Hadi Matar, 24, of New Jersey, was arrested on charges of the attack, but it is not yet clear what caused this violent attack against the writer for years in the crosshairs of fundamentalists and Ayatollah Khomeini who, a year later. He published the famous book which he considered part of Islam as “infidelity” and offered a $3 million bounty as a reward for his death.

“The news is not good. Salman It is connected to a respirator“At the moment, he is unable to speak,” said the writer’s agent, Andrew Wylie, after the surgery took several hours, explaining that the situation for the writer who had been stabbed in the neck and abdomen was more serious. “He lost his eye, the nerves in his arm were severed, and his liver was injured and damaged.”

White House: ‘A horrific attack’
The United States and the world witnessed a horrific attack on the writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is frightening. This was written by the US National Security Adviser, Jake Sullivan. “All of us in the Biden-Harris administration are praying for his speedy recovery,” the memo reads, which also expresses gratitude “to the kind and savior citizens who helped Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to the regime forces for their effective work.”

The attack occurred at 10.45 am local time (4.45 pm in Italy), shortly after Rushdie took the stage of the Chautauqua Foundation, a hundred kilometers from Buffalo,
to hold a conference. Hadi Matar, who according to eyewitnesses was wearing a black mask, got up from the audience, jumped on the podium and rushed toward the writer, hitting him “in the neck and at least once in the stomach,” according to Police Reconstruction. He was also impressed by the conference director, Ralph Henry Reese, who was released from the hospital a few hours later.

“It all happened in seconds,” said a witness seated in the audience. “It was stained with blood and dripping on the ground,” he said. “I saw blood around his eyes and dripping down his cheek.” The writer was immediately rescued by a doctor present in the room and then taken by helicopter to the hospital. The motive for the attack remains unknown, and the FBI is also cooperating in the investigation.

Salman Rushdie attack in New York, video on social media

In the evening, a crowd of onlookers and neighbors gathered in front of the attacker’s home in Fairview, New Jersey, but were rejected by police and blocked off the road. “We condemn all forms of violence and we want everyone to be free to speak and write the truth,” New York State Governor Cathy Hochhol said immediately after the attack, praising the policeman who intervened immediately after the writer’s attack. “I saved his life,” he said.

British Prime Minister Boris Johnson condemned the attack. “Appalled that Salman Rushdie was stabbed while exercising a right we must not stop defending,” he wrote on Twitter. “Now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We all hope he is OK.” Emmanuel Macron stressed that France was “on the side of Rushdie”. “His fight is our war,” the French president wrote on Twitter. Solidarity with the author was expressed by the entire literary world and by many writers.

Salman Rushdie, author of The Satanic Verses, The book was banned in Iran in 1988 as blasphemy. Ayatollah Khomeini A year after the book was published, He issued a fatwa against the Indian writer offering a $3 million reward to those who killed him. Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei renewed the fatwa in 2017, and in 2019 via Twitter.

Le moment où l’écrivain britannique Salman Rushdie a été transporté à l’hôpital par hélicoptère après été poignardé au cou alors qu’il veronçait a discours lors d’un événement littéraire in New York. pic.twitter.com/6PaLd9NnOV

– Hervé Doumbia (@almouslime) August 12 2022