Salman Rushdie, the Mumbai-born author of the Booker Prize-winning novel Midnight's Children', was stabbed and suffered a neck wound when a man stormed the stage during an event here on Friday while he was getting ready to deliver a lecture, New York Police said.
Rushdie, 75, who suffered years of death threats for his controversial book titled 'The Satanic Verses', fell through a barrier to the stage and was seen with blood on his hands.
The audience tackled the attacker and Rushdie was then treated onstage following the assault at the event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York.
State Police are investigating an attack on author Salman Rushdie prior to a speaking event at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, NY. On August 12, 2022, at about 11am, a male suspect ran up on to the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer. Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck, and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital. His condition is not yet known, New York Police said in a statement.
The interviewer suffered a minor head injury. A State Trooper assigned to the event immediately took the suspect into custody. The Chautauqua County Sheriff's Office assisted at the scene, it said.
Rushdie's fourth book, in 1988 - The Satanic Verses - forced him into hiding for nine years. A year after the book's publication, Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's execution for publishing the book for its blasphemous content. Since the 1980s, Rushdie's writing has led to death threats from Iran, which has offered a USD 3 million reward for anyone who kills him.
A bounty of over USD 3 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie.
Iran government distanced itself from Khomeini's decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment lingered. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from USD 2.8 million to USD 3.3 million.
Rushdie dismissed that threat at the time, saying there was no evidence of people being interested in the reward.
That year, Rushdie published a memoir, Joseph Anton, about the fatwa.
(With PTI inputs)
