The attack on author Salman Rushdie has evoked widespread condemnation from people across the world. Rushdie, the Mumbai-born controversial author who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing 'The Satanic Verses', suffered multiple wounds to the neck and abdomen after a man stormed the stage and stabbed him as he was about to deliver a lecture at a literary event in New York, US, on Friday.
Law enforcement officials have identified the attacker as a 24-year-old Hadi Matar, who reportedly hails from New Jersey. The interviewer with Salman Rushdie was also attacked during the incident and he suffered a minor head injury, the police said
Who is Salman Rushdie?
Salman Rushdie (75), who won the Booker Prize for his novel 'Midnight's Children', is an Indian-born author. He has written 14 novels, but is best known for his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, published in 1988. A year after the book's publication, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's execution for publishing the book for its blasphemous content. Since the 1980s, Rushdie's writing has led to death threats from Iran, which has offered a USD 3 million reward for anyone who kills him. The author spent about 10 years under police protection in the United Kingdom, living in hiding after Khomeini declared Rushdie’s execution.
In 2007, Rushdie was knighted for his services to literature. Salman Rushdie came into the limelight with his second novel "Midnight's Children" in 1981. The book won international praise and Britain's prestigious Booker Prize for its portrayal of post-independence India. Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States. ALSO READ: Salman Rushdie stabbing: Kangana Ranaut condemns attack, says 'shaken beyond words'
Meanwhile, Rushdie is off the ventilator and is talking, the president of Chautauqua Institution, where the author was stabbed, said. Rushdie was on a ventilator after he was stabbed by Hadi Matar at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York State. Rushdie was treated by a doctor who was in the audience until rescue workers arrived and took the author to the hospital by helicopter. ALSO READ: Salman Rushdie attack video goes viral; public stabbing of Satanic Verses author terrifies netizens
(With inputs from agencies)
