NEW YORK – Salman Rushdie, an author whose writings prompted death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked Friday as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.
An Associated Press reporter saw a man storm the Chautauqua Institution stage and begin beating or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced. The author was knocked down or fell to the ground and the man was restrained.
Rushdie’s condition was not immediately known.
Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses” has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it blasphemous. A year later, then-Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
A reward of more than $3 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie.
Iran’s government long ago distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment persisted. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised Rushdie’s reward from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.
Rushdie dismissed the threat at the time, saying there was “no evidence” that people were interested in the reward.
That year, Rushdie published a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” about the fatwa.
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