Sandy MaloneChautauqua, NY – Venerated novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed as he took the stage to give a speech at the Chautauqua Institution on Friday morning.
Rushie, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was being introduced when a man stormed the stage and attacked him, according to the Associated Press.
Witnesses said the man stabbed or punched the 75-year-old author multiple times.
Rushie fell to the floor near the podium, pictures from the scene posted to social media indicated.
The man who attacked the author was restrained, the Associated Press reported.
A group of people quickly surrounded Rushdie and began performing First Aid.
BREAKING: Author Salman Rushdie has been reportedly stabbed on stage before a lecture in New York. pic.twitter.com/E8XRkTEv7f
— Catch Up News! (@CatchUpScoop) August 12, 2022
He was airlifted to the hospital while the hundreds of people in the audience who were there to hear Rushdie speak were evacuated from the auditorium, the Associated Press reported.
Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed at an event in New York, is being flown to hospital. No word on his condition pic.twitter.com/zQmOZH1jvG
— BNO News (@BNONews) August 12, 2022
The famous novelist’s medical condition was not known.
The man who attacked him was taken into custody at the scene.
Breaking: Salman Rushdie attacked by a Pakistan based man in US. pic.twitter.com/BMyLPxsmMi
— Frontalforce 🇮🇳 (@FrontalForce) August 12, 2022
Officials have not yet released any information about the suspect or his motives, but speculation on the Internet ran the gamut.
The wounded author has had a bounty on his head for almost 35 years, the Associated Press reported.
Rushdie’s novel, “The Satanic Verses,” was banned in Iran in 1988 because many Muslims considered it blasphemous.
Iran’s late leader, the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s murder in 1989, according to the Associated Press.
He offered a bounty of $3 million to anyone who killed Rushdie.
A semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty from $2.8 million to $3.3 million in 2012, the Associated Press reported.
BREAKING: Author Salman Rushdie, the subject of an ongoing fatwa from Iran over his book Satanic Verses, sparking many death threats over the years, has been stabbed on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in New York State. pic.twitter.com/wLEWkA3xC1
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 12, 2022
I hope Salman Rushdie is okay.
— Stephen King (@StephenKing) August 12, 2022
Salman Rushdie was just stabbed – there’s been a fatwa on him from the Ayatollah of Iran since 1989. Comes right after the arrest of someone Iran paid $300k to kill John Bolton and the threats to Masih Alinejad in Brooklyn. I’m going to say it’s not a coincidence.
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) August 12, 2022
34 years after he wrote The Satanic Verses, Salman Rushdie stabbed today in New York
“Blasphemy” is a curse on this planet.
— Monica Verma (@TrulyMonica) August 12, 2022
What an awful morning.
Here's to hoping that Salman Rushdie survives.
Here's to hoping that his attacker and his ideological sponsors are swiftly brought to justice.
And here's to hoping that the world shows more courage in the face of this intimidation than it did in 1988.
— Yascha Mounk (@Yascha_Mounk) August 12, 2022
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Holly Matkin
