Status: 08/13/2022 05:29 am
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Writer Salman Rushdie has been attacked on a stage in the United States. According to police, he was wounded and flown to a hospital. Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses resulted in death threats 30 years ago.
Author Salman Rushdie has been attacked on a stage in upstate New York. The police confirmed this. Accordingly, the 75-year-old suffered a stab wound to the neck. The suspect was arrested.
The man ran onto the stage at a venue in Chautauqua and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer, police said. Reporters said he punched or stabbed Rushdie 10 to 15 times. The writer was taken to a nearby hospital by helicopter. According to police, he was stabbed at least once in the neck and abdomen.
Rushdie is on a ventilator, according to his manager. “The news is not good,” wrote Andrew Wylie, according to the New York Times. The 75-year-old cannot speak and will likely lose an eye. Nerves in his arm were severed and his liver was damaged.
Police spokesman: Attacker a 24-year-old American
The attacker was a 24-year-old American from New Jersey. Police spokesman James O’Callaghan said at a press conference. The motive for the crime is currently unclear.
According to initial findings, he probably had no accomplices. “At this point we’re assuming he was alone, but we’re trying to make sure he was,” O’Callaghan said. A backpack was secured at the crime scene. A number of search warrants are also sought.
Governor: Police officer saved Rushdie’s life
According to New York Governor Kathy Hochul, the intervention of a police officer saved the writer’s life. “It was a state police officer who stood up and saved his life, protected him,” she said. Rushdie is alive and receiving the care he needs at a local hospital, the governor said.
Author Salman Rushdie attacked with knife and seriously injured during lecture
Marion Schmickler, ARD New York, daily topics 9:45 p.m., August 12, 2022
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Fatwa regarding “The Satanic Verses”
Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988. The work is considered blasphemous by many Muslims. In 1989, the late Supreme Leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa. She called for the killing of Rushdie and everyone involved in distributing the book. A bounty of more than $3 million has been offered in the country for the author’s killing.
A Japanese translator was later actually killed. Rushdie had to go into hiding and was given police protection. However, the situation eased in the late 1990s after the government of Iran declared in 1998 that it would not support Rushdie’s assassination.
More threats and boycotts
However, threats and boycotts against literary events Rushdie attended continued. Rushdie’s knighting by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007 sparked protests in Iran and Pakistan.
According to his publisher last year, the ayatollah’s fatwa no longer has any meaning for the writer. Rushdie is no longer restricted in his freedom of movement and no longer needs bodyguards.
The author was born in the year of Indian independence in 1947 in the metropolis of Mumbai (then Bombay). He later studied history at King’s College, Cambridge. He had his breakthrough as an author with the book “Midnight Children”, which was awarded the renowned Booker Prize in 1981.
“An Attack on Freedom of Speech and Thought”
The act sparked global outrage. US Senator and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on Twitter that the act was an “attack on freedom of speech and freedom of thought, the two core values of our country and the Chautauqua Institution”. Outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled” that Rushdie was attacked while “exercising a right that we should never stop defending”.
UN Secretary-General António Guterres also reacted with horror to the attack. “In no case is violence a response to words spoken or written by others in the exercise of their freedom of opinion and expression,” said spokesman Stephane Dujarric. Guterres wishes Rushdie a speedy recovery.
Several internationally renowned authors also expressed their shock. In a first statement, the US authors’ association PEN America said it was “appalled at the news of a brutal, deliberate attack” on Rushdie. “We can think of no comparable case of a public violent attack on a writer on American soil.” The author is a member of the association.
Attack on author Salman Rushdie
Anne Schneider, ARD New York, August 12, 2022 6:32 p.m
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