Salman Rushdie spent years in hiding after the Iranian government demanded his execution in response to the release of his book “The Satanic Verses.” He returned to society in recent years, saying, “Oh, I have to live my life,” and frequently appeared in public in New York City without any apparent security.
When an assailant stormed the stage at Chautauqua Institution in Western New York on Friday morning, where Mr. Rushdie was supposed to speak about the United States as a safe haven for exiled writers, any idea that threats to his life were a thing of the past was dispelled. According to the police and witnesses, the attacker stabbed Mr. Rushdie, 75, in the abdomen and the neck even as several people held him back.
Mr. Rushdie was transported by helicopter to a neighboring hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he underwent surgery on Friday afternoon for a number of hours. Mr. Rushdie was on a ventilator and unable to talk, according to Mr. Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, on Friday evening.
The bad news, Mr. Wylie wrote in an email. The nerves in Salman’s arm were cut, his liver was pierced, and it is possible that he may lose one of his eyes.
Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old New Jersey man who was detained at the scene, was identified as the attack’s suspect by Major Eugene J. Staniszewski of the New York State Police, who added that no reason had yet been revealed at a news conference late Friday afternoon.
He stated that the detectives were in the process of obtaining search warrants for a bag and electronic equipment that were discovered at the institution. He added that the police were collaborating with the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the neighborhood sheriff’s office.
The incident astonished spectators who had congregated in the Chautauqua Institution’s 4,000-seat amphitheater, a summertime destination for intellectual and artistic activities.
Linda Abrams, who sat in the front row and heard the lecture, stated that it took around five men to remove him from the situation while he was still stabbing. He was purely and simply outraged, like simply swift and extremely strong.
Others spoke of Mr. Rushdie’s cheek bleeding and collecting on the ground. Rita Landman, a doctor present, noted that although Mr. Rushdie looked to have numerous knife wounds, including one on the right side of his neck, people were yelling, “He has a pulse, he has a pulse,” around him.
A face injury sustained during the attack required treatment, but Ralph Henry Reese, 73, who was onstage with Mr. Rushdie to moderate the conversation, was discharged from the hospital on Friday afternoon, according to the police.
The literary community was shocked by Mr. Rushdie’s egregious attack. In a statement, PEN America’s chief executive officer, Suzanne Nossel, remarked that “we can think of no analogous example of a public attack on a literary writer on American territory.”
Mr. Rushdie was “one of the great authors of our time and one of the great supporters of freedom of speech and freedom of creative expression,” Mr. Reese declared in a statement following his discharge from the hospital.
Mr. Reese stated, “We revere him and our first concern is for his life.”The possibility that an attack could take place in the United States shows how many countries, as well as other people and organizations, have threatened writers.”
Since 1989, roughly six months after the release of his book “The Satanic Verses,” which fictionalized aspects of the life of the Prophet Muhammad and contained depictions that many Muslims found offensive and some thought were blasphemous, Mr. Rushdie had been effectively living under a death sentence.
On February 14, 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran following the 1979 Iranian Revolution, issued a religious fatwa commanding Muslims to murder Mr. Rushdie. His head was valued at many million dollars. Mr. Rushdie, who was a resident of London at the time, went into hiding and spent the majority of the following ten years living in a safe house that was guarded by British police.
The discussion’s moderator, Mr. Reese, the co-founder of a Pittsburgh nonprofit called City of Asylum, a residency program for exiled writers, and Mr. Rushdie had barely gotten onstage together when a guy stormed the stage and attacked Mr. Rushdie, according to the police and numerous witnesses. People in the audience exhaled and rose to their feet.
According to Mary Newsom, who was present during the talk, some individuals initially believed it might be a publicity trick. Then, she continued, “It became clear that it was obviously not a stunt.”
According to several witnesses, the assailant ran onto the stage and approached Mr. Rushdie from behind, making quick work of getting to him. From his position in the second row, Chuck Koch, an Ohio lawyer with a residence in Chautauqua, raced onstage to assist in containing the assailant. Several individuals attempted to remove the attacker from Mr. Rushdie, according to Mr. Koch, and were successful in doing so before a uniformed officer showed up and put the perpetrator in custody.
Another visitor, Bruce Johnson, witnessed a knife fall on the ground while the attacker was being held.
The president of Chautauqua, Michael Hill, stated at the news conference on Friday that Mr. Matar had a pass to enter the facility’s grounds like any regular visitor.
Public politicians and intellectual celebrities also condemned the attack. The publisher of Mr. Rushdie, Penguin Random House, whose CEO is Markus Dohle, released a statement saying, “We are genuinely shocked and appalled to hear of the attack.”
In a tweet, British Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed his outrage over Sir Salman Rushdie being stabbed while exercising a freedom that should never be abandoned.
“Today’s attack on Salman Rushdie was also an attack on some of our most fundamental ideals – the free expression of thinking,” New York Governor Kathy Hochul wrote on Twitter.
The Satanic Verses was prohibited in a number of nations before the fatwa, including Bangladesh, Sudan, Sri Lanka, and India, the country where Mr. Rushdie was born. He was prohibited from entering the nation for over ten years.
Iran rejected Mr. Rushdie’s half-hearted apologies after the fatwa, which he later regretted.
Numerous individuals lost their lives in demonstrations over its publishing, including 12 in a riot in Mumbai in February 1989 and another six in one in Islamabad. There were attacks on bookstores and the burning of books. Additionally, anyone associated with the book were targeted.
The novel’s Italian translator, Ettore Capriolo, and Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi were both fatally murdered in July 1991. The Norwegian publisher of the book, William Nygaard, was shot three times outside his Oslo home in October 1993 and suffered critical injuries.
Following the passing of Ayatollah Khomeini, the fatwa was upheld by the Iranian government for almost ten years, until 1998, when Iranian President Mohammad Khatami, who was seen as somewhat liberal, said that Iran no longer supported the assassination. However, the fatwa is still in effect, apparently with a $3.3 million bounty attached from an Iranian religious foundation as of 2012.
The author described his comeback to writing after the controversy surrounding “The Satanic Verses” in an interview with The Sunday Times in 1995, just before Mr. Rushdie’s first scheduled public appearance since the fatwa—a panel in London where he discussed his new book, “The Moor’s Last Sigh.”
In that interview, he added, “Writing this was a very essential step for me. ”I had spent the previous two and a half years conversing with politicians, which is not my preferred activity. Then I understood it was ridiculous to allow this unpleasant business prevent me from doing what I enjoy doing the most. I wanted to demonstrate to myself that I could take in and transcend what had occurred to me. And I feel like I do now, at least.
Since then, Mr. Rushdie has released eight books, including “Joseph Anton,” a biography about the fatwa, in 2012. The title is a play on the first names of Joseph Conrad and Anton Chekhov, which he used as a pseudonym while he was absconding.
Mr. Rushdie has led a more open existence in New York City in recent years. He gave a speech in 2019 to promote his book “Quichotte” at an exclusive club in Manhattan. The event’s security was inadequate, allowing Mr. Rushdie to freely interact with attendees and dine with club members afterward.
Iran has not yet made any public statements regarding the assault on the author.
However, pro-government activists hailed the stabbing of Mr. Rushdie as the ayatollah’s fatwa finally coming to pass on social media. Some wanted him to pass away. Others have forewarned that the Islamic Republic’s adversaries will suffer a similar fate.
Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said the fatwa against Mr. Rushdie was “shot like a bullet that won’t rest till it reaches its target” in a statement that was widely circulated.
The president of PEN America and friend of Salman Rushdie, Ayad Akhtar, said Mr. Rushdie never brought a security detail with him when he attended a theater, went out to dinner, or attended a public event. Mr. Akhtar believes that “The Satanic Verses” is an “essential moment” in the history of modern literature. He claimed that Mr. Rushdie appeared completely at ease out in public.
