Writer Salman Rushdie (75) – the author of ‘The Satanic Verses’ – was attacked Friday in New York state, just before he was due to give a lecture on artistic freedom. A journalist from the AP news agency, who saw everything happen, says that the perpetrator struck 10 to 15 times. Rushdie received emergency care on stage and was taken to a hospital by helicopter. According to his literary agent, he is on a ventilator and probably loses one eye. The culprit has been overpowered.
Literary agent Andrew Wylie said in a statement that “the news is not good”. According to Wylie, the nerves in the writer’s arm were severed and his liver was also damaged. It was previously reported that Rushdie was undergoing surgery after being taken to hospital by helicopter.
The attack happened around 11 a.m. local time in Chautauqua, about 470 kilometers from New York City. An AP reporter saw a man storm the stage as Rushdie was introduced. The attack itself lasted about 20 seconds and, according to the journalist, the perpetrator struck 10 to 15 times. Images show the author lying on the ground, while he is helped by bystanders.
The police have also released the identity of the perpetrator. It concerns a 24-year-old man named Hadi Matar from Fairview, New Jersey. His motive is not yet known, the police and FBI are investigating.
A doctor who helped administer first aid on stage speaks of “multiple stab wounds” in ‘The New York Times’. It included a wound on the right side of his neck. According to Rita Landman, a pool of blood formed under his body. At the time, he was not receiving a chest compressions and appeared to be alive. “People said he had a pulse,” she says.
The man Rushdie interviewed was also attacked. He suffered minor head injuries. An officer who was present at the event arrested the suspect. Governor Hochul praised the man for his performance and said he saved the lives of Rushdie and the presenter. The New York State Police Department has now launched an investigation.
Rushdie was born in India to a Muslim family and is a champion of freedom of expression. Because of ‘The Satanic Verses’ (1988) he was struck in 1989 by a fatwa from the Iranian Muslim cleric Khomeini, which declared him an outlaw. Khomeini found the book blasphemous and anti-Islamic. After all, in ‘The Satanic Verses’ the prophet Mohammed and aspects of Islam are ridiculed. It also features a character based on the Ayatollah.
Iran initially offered $2.8 million to anyone who would succeed in killing Rushdie. However, the Iranian government distanced itself from the fatwa in 1998 after the Ayatollah’s death. In 2012, a semi-official religious organization raised the price on the author’s head to $3.3 million. Groups of extremists would assume that the fatwa still applies, because such appeals from a high-ranking Shia cleric are not changed or revoked after the cleric’s death. Khomeini’s successor – Ali Khamenei – confirmed in 2017 that the fatwa was still valid.
Go into hiding
The writer first had to go into hiding for ten years and afterwards was also under constant British police protection. In recent years he would have been able to live relatively free again. He became a US citizen in 2016 and currently lives in New York City.
Rushdie once called the fatwa “more of a rhetoric than an actual threat” and also said there was no evidence yet that anyone was interested in the reward. Despite this, a bomb attack had already been planned, but it failed.
Translators of ‘The Satanic Verses’ have also been attacked in the past. On July 12, 1991, the Japanese translator of the book was found dead outside his office at Tsukuba University, northeast of Tokyo. Hitoshi Igarashi (44) had been stabbed several times, according to the police. Earlier that month – on July 3, 1991 – the Italian translator was also attacked in his flat in Milan. Ettore Capriolo (61) survived.
Comments
In the meantime, the first reactions to the attack are also pouring in. Democratic Senator Chuck Schumer of New York called the attack “shocking and appalling”. “It is an attack on freedom of expression and thought, two fundamental values of our country and of the Chautauqua Institute. I hope Mr Rushdie makes a speedy and full recovery and that the perpetrator may experience full responsibility and justice.”
Fellow writers are also shocked. Author Stephen King tweets that he hopes Rushdie is okay and Harry Potter writer JK Rowling speaks of “horrific news” that she is “not good at”.
Our country is equally horrified. “Violence against an author is unacceptable and the attack on Salman Rushdie just before his lecture is despicable. The free expression of thoughts, culture, artists and their works allows our societies to progress. We stand behind him and his family,” Foreign Minister Hadja Lahbib (MR) tweeted.
Hadja Lahbib
@hadjalahbib
Open Vld chairman Egbert Lachaert agrees. “After a whole life of fighting extremism, he is now being felled. The attack on Salman Rushdie is an example of what a world can look like when (religious) extremism wins over free speech. Our thoughts are with him,” he says.
Author and opinion maker Dyab Abou Jahjah tweeted: “The Salman Rushdie fatwa is the mother of all Cancel Cultures. In its rudimentary violence. In his urge to end a life because of literature. After this attack I will make sure to buy and read satanic verses. The sword must never beat the pen.”
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