Salman Rushdie may lose an eye as a result of the attack
Salman Rushdie’s attack is being celebrated in Iran as the author remains in a critical state after being stabbed in the neck while preparing to give a lecture in New York on Friday.
The 75-year-old acclaimed writer was being introduced at the Chautauqua Institution when a man, since identified as Hadi Matar, jumped on stage and stabbed him in the neck and abdomen. The 24-year-old, police have said, had a pass to the lecture. His motive for the attack is not yet clear and police are yet to determine what he will be charged with.
Members of the crowd were said to have bravely tackled Matar.
Rushdie was treated at the scene before transported to hospital by helicopter where he is still undergoing surgery.
Rushdie remains on a ventilator unable to speak and it is feared he may lose an eye.
His 1988 book The Satanic Verses is the writer’s most controversial work and is banned in Iran where many Muslims claim it to be blasphemous. In 1989, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death.
A $3 million bounty was offered for Rushdie’s murder and then later increased by $300,000.
Iran’s media has been celebrating the attack, Unilad reported.
The Khorasan daily newspaper published the story along with the headline: “Satan on the way to hell”.
While the Asr Iran news site also mocked the incident, using a quote from the Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that claimed the “arrow” shot by Ruhollah Khomeini would “one day hit the target”.
State news agency FARS News branded the author an “apostate” and claimed his work had “insulted the Prophet of Islam”.
And thanking the attacker, the Kayhan newspaper also said: “A thousand bravos to the brave and dutiful person who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York.
“The hand of the man who tore the neck of God’s enemy must be kissed.” Rushdie was taken to a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he was treated for his extensive injuries.
Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, has said his client had been placed on a ventilator and added: “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”
Rushdie was speaking at the institution alongside Henry Reese, the co-founder and president of City of Asylum in Pittsburgh, which was founded almost 20 years ago to offer sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution, who was also attacked. Reese suffered a minor head injury.
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