Salman Rushdie, 75, Stabbed in Neck in New York

India-West News Desk

NEW YORK, NY – Indian British author Salman Rushdie, was attacked August 12, on stage at an event here. The author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was stabbed in the neck by a man who rushed the stage as he was about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution.

An Associated Press reporter who witnessed the event said a man confronted Rushdie on stage and begin punching or stabbing him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced.

The 75-year-old author fell to the floor as people rushed to the stage to help him. Rushdie was flown by helicopter to the hospital and at the time of publication, his status was unknown.

The assault happened onstage where Rushdie had been invited to talk about the importance of the US offering asylum for writers and other artists in exile.

Rushdie has been a prominent spokesman for free expression and liberal causes. He is a former president of PEN America, which said it was “reeling from shock and horror” at the attack.

Rushdie’s book ‘The Satanic Verses’ has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous. The country’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had issued a fatwa, for Rushdie’s death which subsequent governments have distanced themselves from. But in 2012, In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8m to $3.3m.

 Rushdie’s assailant has been arrested.