CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. (AP) — Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked and apparently stabbed in the neck Friday by a man who rushed the stage as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.
A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to UPMC Hamot in Erie, according to a statement from state Rep. Dan Laughlin of Erie. Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was on a ventilator Friday evening, with a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye he was likely to lose.
Police identified the attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey. He was arrested at the scene and was awaiting arraignment. Matar was born a decade after Rushdie's most prominent novel “The Satanic Verses” was published. The motive for the attack was unclear, New York State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said.
Rushdie was scheduled to speak at Chautauqua Institution for a special Chautauqua Lecture Series event, at which he was joined by Henry Reese, 73, co-founder and board president of the Pittsburgh nonprofit City of Asylum — the North Side-based residency program in the world for writers living in exile under threat of persecution. They were planning to discuss "the United States as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression," according to the Chautauqua Institution website.
Reese, the event moderator, suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from a hospital, police said. The Chautauqua Institution, in a tweeted statement, asked for prayers for both men.
We ask for your prayers for Salman Rushdie and Henry Reese, and patience as we fully focus on coordinating with police officials following a tragic incident at the Amphitheater today. All programs are canceled for the remainder of the day. Please consult the NYS Police statement.
— Chautauqua Institution (@chq) August 12, 2022
An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man confront Rushdie on stage and punch or stab him 10 to 15 times as he was being introduced. The author was pushed or fell to the floor, and the man was arrested.
Authorities did not immediately identify the attacker or offer any information on his motive.
State police said Rushdie was apparently stabbed in the neck. Gov. Kathy Hochul said later that he was alive and "getting the care he needs."
Dr. Martin Haskell, a physician who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdie's wounds as "serious but recoverable."
Police said a state trooper was assigned to Rushdie's lecture and made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn't tighter security for the event, given the decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head in the Muslim world offering more than $3 million for anyone who kills him.
Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the roughly 2,500 people in the audience. Amid gasps, spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater.
The assailant ran onto the platform "and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you're like, 'What's going on?' And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten," Savenor said. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds.
Another spectator, Kathleen Jones, said the attacker was dressed in black, with a black mask.
"We thought perhaps it was part of a stunt to show that there's still a lot of controversy around this author. But it became evident in a few seconds" that it wasn't, she said.
Rushdie has been a prominent spokesman for free expression and liberal causes. He is a former president of PEN America, which said it was "reeling from shock and horror" at the attack.
"We can think of no comparable incident of a public violent attack on a literary writer on American soil," CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement.
Rushdie "has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered," she added.
His 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" was viewed as blasphemous by many Muslims, who saw a character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. Around the world, often-violent protests erupted against Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim family. One riot killed 12 people in his hometown of Mumbai.
The book was banned in Iran, where the late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie's death. Khomeini died that same year.
Iran's current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei has never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict, though Iran in recent years hasn't focused on the writer.
Iran's mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday's attack, which led a night news bulletin on Iranian state television.
The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall.
He said in a 2012 talk in New York that terrorism is really the art of fear.
"The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid," he said.
Anti-Rushdie sentiment has lingered long after Khomeini's decree. The Index on Censorship, an organization promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for his killing as recently as 2016.
An Associated Press journalist who went to the Tehran office of the 15 Khordad Foundation, which put up the millions for the bounty on Rushdie, found it closed Friday night on the Iranian weekend. No one answered calls to its listed telephone number.
In 2012, Rushdie published a memoir, "Joseph Anton," about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie had used while in hiding.
Rushdie rose to prominence with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel "Midnight's Children," but his name became known around the world after "The Satanic Verses."
Widely regarded as one of Britain's finest living writers, Rushdie was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honor, a royal accolade for people who have made a major contribution to the arts, science or public life.
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson tweeted that he was "appalled" that Rushdie has been stabbed "while exercising a right we should never cease to defend."
In a statement released by City of Asylum Friday night, Reese called Rushdie "one of the great authors of our time and one of the great defenders of freedom of speech and freedom of creative expression."
"We revere him and our paramount concern is for his life, " Reese said in the statement. "The fact that this attack could occur in the United States is indicative of the threats to writers from many governments and from many individuals and organizations. In addition to wishing Salman well as Americans and citizens of the world, we need to re-commit ourselves to defending the values Salman has championed.
The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place for reflection and spiritual guidance. Visitors don't pass through metal detectors or undergo bag checks. Most people leave the doors to their century-old cottages unlocked at night.
The Chautauqua center is known for its summertime lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken before. Speakers address a different topic each week.
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Associated Press writers Jennifer Peltz in New York City; Carolyn Thompson in Buffalo, New York; Michael Hill in Albany, New York; and Nasser Karimi and Mehdi Fattahi in Tehran, Iran, contributed to this report.
