Author Sir Salman Rushdie has lost the sight in an eye and the use of a hand after he was stabbed on stage, his agent has revealed.
The Indian-born British writer, who faced death threats for his novel The Satanic Verses, was attacked in August as he was about to deliver a lecture in New York state.
He was stabbed around 12 times, including in his face and neck, but the full extent of his injuries had been unclear until now.
In an interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, Sir Salman’s literary agent Andrew Wyle said the 75-year-old’s injuries were “profound” and he had “lost the sight of one eye”.
“He had three serious wounds in his neck,” Mr Wylie said.
“One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.”
Mr Wylie refused to reveal if Sir Salman remained in hospital, saying he could not give any information about his whereabouts.
“He’s going to live… that’s the more important thing,” he added.
Sir Salman spent nearly a decade in hiding after the publication in 1988 of his work The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims consider to be blasphemous.
Image: Salman Rushdie holds a copy of his novel
The Satanic Verses in 1992. Pic: AP
A fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to kill him was issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian leader, a year later.
Mr Wylie said an attack “was probably something that Salman and I have discussed in the past”.
“The principal danger that he faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed is from a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking [him],” the agent said.
“So, you can’t protect against that because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like John Lennon’s murder.”
Read more: Why is Salman Rushdie so controversial?
Image: Hadi Matar is accused of stabbing Sir Salman. Pic: Chautauqua County Jail
Following the attack on Sir Salman, Iran’s foreign ministry said the author “and his supporters are to blame for what happened to him”.
The man accused of stabbing Sir Salman has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges.
Hadi Matar, 24, is being held in custody as he awaits trial.
The stabbing of author Sir Salman Rushdie has shocked and horrified fellow writes and world leaders, with many praising him as a defender of free speech.
The 75-year-old remains on a ventilator after being airlifted to hospital and undergoing hours of surgery following the attack in New York state.
And messages of support have been pouring in for the Indian-born British author.
Fellow novelist Ian McEwan said: “This appalling attack on my dear friend Salman represents an assault on freedom of thought and speech.
“These are the freedoms that underpin all our rights and liberties. Salman has been an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world.”
Read more: Why is Salman Rushdie so controversial?
Norwegian William Nygaard, who was shot and severely wounded in 1993 after publishing Sir Salman’s work, said: “He is a leading author who has meant so much to literature, and he had found a good life in the United States.”
Home Secretary Priti Patel tweeted: “Shocked and appalled to hear of the unprovoked and senseless attack on Sir Salman Rushdie.
“Freedom of expression is a value we hold dear and attempts to undermine it must not be tolerated. My thoughts are with Sir Salman and his family.”
Boris Johnson said: “Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend.
“We are all hoping he is okay.”
French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted: “For 33 years, Salman Rushdie has embodied freedom and the fight against obscurantism… His battle is ours, a universal one.”
Image: Ian McEwan and Sir Salman Rushdie
Multimillion-selling horror writer Stephen King tweeted: “I hope Salman Rushdie is okay.” before adding “What kind of ***hat stabs a writer, anyway? F*****!”
Comedian and author David Baddiel tweeted: “It’s appalling what has happened to Salman Rushdie. It’s also appalling that there are people who will think he brought it on himself or somehow deserved it.”
US National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said: “Today, the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack against the writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is appalling.
“All of us in the Biden-Harris Administration are praying for his speedy recovery. We are thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping Mr Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for its swift and effective work, which is ongoing.”
And Suzanne Nossel, of free expression group Pen America, said: “While we do not know the origins or motives of this attack, all those around the world who have met words with violence or called for the same are culpable for legitimising this assault on a writer while he was engaged in his essential work of connecting to readers.”
Author Salman Rushdie will likely lose an eye and has suffered severed nerves in an arm and damage to his liver after he was stabbed, his agent has said.
The 75-year-old remains on a ventilator after being airlifted to hospital and undergoing hours of surgery following the attack in New York state.
“The news is not good. Salman will likely lose one eye, the nerves in his arm were severed, and his liver was stabbed and damaged,” Andrew Wylie said in a written statement.
The Indian-born British author was being introduced to the audience ahead of giving a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, when a man stormed the stage and began attacking him, according to witnesses.
Image: Medics put up a screen as they tended to the author’s wounds. Pic: AP
Image: Pic: Mary Newsom
As Sir Salman fell to the floor, the man was pinned down by audience members and staff who ran on stage. The suspect was arrested by a state trooper soon after, and is now in custody.
He has been identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar from Fairview, New Jersey, who bought a pass for the event. Police say they do not yet know a motive for the assault, but they believe the suspect was acting alone.
Image: A person was pictured being detained outside the Chautauqua Institution. Photo: AP
Read more: Why is Salman Rushdie so controversial?
Witness Pilar Pintagro told Sky News: “We were very scared because the first place (he was stabbed) was in the neck and that’s where the blood started to splash everywhere, and then he stabbed him in the shoulders and continued stabbing several times because it was so fast.
“People from the audience actually jumped onto the stage to try to put him down and Salman was trying to walk away from this guy, but he continued stabbing several times, and he was finally pinned down.”
Image: Sir Salman was airlifted to hospital
‘In shock’
The writer was helped by a doctor who was in the audience before emergency services arrived.
Police said the event’s moderator, Henry Reese, suffered a minor head injury after also being attacked.
Another witness Julia Mineeva Braun told Sky News that as Sir Salman was being introduced “all of a sudden from the left-hand side of the stage a short man, (dressed) all in black, ran out, and he approached Mr Rushdie”.
“It was very quick… we thought he was fixing his microphone, and then we saw the knife. He started stabbing him in the neck first… and Mr Rushdie got up and started running. We’re still in shock.”
Rushdie continued to write despite threat to life
Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British author whose writing about religion and politics has made him controversial in some parts of the world.
His first three novels – Grimus (1975), Midnight’s Children (1981) and Shame (1983) – were all met with praise but it was his fourth – The Satanic Verses – that brought criticism.
Some of the scenes in the 1988 book depict a character modelled on the Prophet Muhammad and this was met with anger from some members of the Muslim community in the UK.
Protests spread to Pakistan in January 1989 and the following month, the spiritual leader of revolutionary Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, condemned the book and issued a fatwa against him.
A bounty was offered for his death. Rushdie went into hiding under the protection of Scotland Yard in the UK, although he appeared in public occasionally.
Despite the threat to his life, he continued to write and in 1998 the Iranian government said it would no longer enforce the fatwa. But Ayatollah Khomeini’s successor as Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said in 2005 that the fatwa was still valid.
Rushdie wrote about his experience in the third-person memoir Joseph Anton in 2012. He was knighted in 2007, a move that was criticised by the Iranian and Pakistani governments.
Sir Salman’s publisher Penguin Random House said they were “deeply shocked” by the incident.
“We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time.”
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan described the attack as “appalling”, adding: “We’re thankful to good citizens and first responders for helping him so swiftly.”
Prime Minister Boris Johnson said on Twitter he was “appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend”.
He added: “Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay.”
Sir Salman lives in New York City and became a US citizen in 2016. His lecture was expected to discuss America’s role as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile, and as a home for freedom of creative expression.
Image: Pic: AP
His fourth book, The Satanic Verses, was banned in 1988 in a number of countries with large Muslim populations, including Iran, after it was considered by some to contain blasphemous passages.
In 1989, Iran’s then leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Sir Salman’s death.
The Middle East country also offered a bounty of more than $3m for anyone who kills the writer.
Salman Rushdie is an Indian-born British author whose writing about religion and politics has made him controversial in some parts of the world.
His first three novels – Grimus (1975), Midnight’s Children (1981) and Shame (1983) – were all met with praise but it was his fourth – The Satanic Verses – that brought criticism.
Some of the scenes in the 1988 book depict a character modelled on the Prophet Muhammad and this was met with anger from some members of the Muslim community in the UK.
They considered it blasphemous.
Protests spread as far as Pakistan in January 1989 and the following month, the spiritual leader of revolutionary Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, condemned the book and issued a fatwa against him.
A bounty was offered for his execution.
The book was burned around the world and translators of the work were attacked – Hitoshi Igarashi, who translated it into Japanese, was murdered in 1991.
Rushdie adopted an alias and went into hiding under the protection of Scotland Yard, although he appeared in public occasionally.
Rushdie continued to write, despite the threat to his life
Despite the threat to his life, he continued to write and in 1998 the Iranian government said it would no longer enforce the fatwa.
The fatwa was never actually revoked, however, and The Satanic Verses remains banned in Iran and a number of other countries.
Rushdie wrote about his experience in the third-person memoir Joseph Anton in 2012.
Speaking in New York three years later, he said: “If you’re a free expression organisation, if you believe in the value of free speech, then you must believe in the value of free speech that you don’t like.
“If you only defend free speech that conforms to your own moral framework that’s what is normally called censorship.”
He was knighted in 2007, a move that was criticised by the Iranian and Pakistani governments.
