Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing drew death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked Friday as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.
An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institute while Rushdie was being introduced and begin punching or stabbing him. The 75-year-old author fell to the floor, and the man was pinned down.
Rushdie was quickly surrounded by a small group of people. His condition was not immediately known.
Hundreds of people in the audience gasped at the sight of the attack and were then evacuated from the venue.
Bloodstains mark a screen as author Salman Rushdie, behind the screen, tends to it after being attacked during a lecture, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York (Joshua Goodman/The Associated Press )
Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since its first publication in 1988 because many Muslims consider it blasphemous. A year later, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or decree, calling for Rushdie’s death.
Iran has also offered over US$3 million as a reward for anyone who kills Rushdie.
Iran’s government has long distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, but anti-Rushdi sentiment persists. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the prize for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.
Rushdie then dismissed the threat, saying there was “no evidence” that people were interested in the prize.
Rushdie is seen posing with a copy of his book Joseph Anton in this photo taken in Berlin in October 2012. The title comes from the pen name Rushdie used while in hiding. (Johannes Eisele/AFP/Getty Images)
In the same year, Rushdie published a memoir, Joseph Anton, about the fatwa. The title comes from the pseudonym Rushdie used while in hiding.
Rushdie rose to fame with his novel Midnight’s Children, which won the Booker Prize in 1981, but his name became world famous after The Satanic Verses.
Chautauqua Institute, about 56 miles southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, is known for its summer lectures. Rushdie has spoken there before.
Add Comment