Author Salman Rushdie Stabbed on Stage During Event in New York
Author Salman Rushie was stabbed on stage as he attended an event in upstate New York on Thursday morning, according to witness’ photos and videos from the scene.
Rushdie was at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education center and summer resort, located near Buffalo.
Rushdi’s work, particularly his 1988 novel The Satantic Verses, has attracted fierce protests, death threats, and even a fatwa for his assassination by the former religious leader of Iran.
Rushdie’s condition was not immediately known.
Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses” has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous. A year later, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
A bounty of over $3 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie.
Iran’s government has long since 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 $2.8 million to $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.
