Salman Rushdie’s agent has revealed that the controversial author was attacked in August while preparing to give a lecture in western New York, leaving him with the sight of one eye and the use of one hand.
The Indian-born British novelist’s anti-Islam book, published in 1988, sparked a wave of controversy and two months ago he was stabbed about 12 times on stage at an institute function.
Iran’s former spiritual leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa against the author a year after the book’s publication, forcing Salman to remain in hiding for years.
The condition of Salman’s injuries was not yet clear. But in a new interview with Spanish newspaper El Pais, his agent Andrew Wylie said Salman, 75, ‘lost the sight in one eye’ when a man climbed on stage and stabbed him.
‘He had three serious wounds on his neck. One hand is disabled because the nerves in his arm were severed. He has about 15 more wounds on his chest and torso. So it was a brutal attack.’
Wylie declined to say whether Salman was still in the hospital, instead saying the more important thing was that he was ‘going to be alive.’
Wylie said the attack was “probably something that Salman and I had discussed in the past.”
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He said that the main threat they faced in all these years after the fatwa was issued was that a person would come out of nowhere and attack them.
‘So, you cannot be safe from it because it is totally unpredictable and illogical. It was like killing John Lennon.’
In the interview, Wylie was asked how he felt about Art Spiegelman’s Pulitzer Prize-winning graphic novel Mouse being banned in some US schools.
‘You know, it’s the religious right wing that’s doing as expected. This is ridiculous. This is ridiculous. This is embarrassing. But now it is a major force in the country.’
24-year-old Hadi Matar has pleaded not guilty to the charges of murder and attempted assault of Salman. If convicted, Hadi could face a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.
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2024-09-22 22:30:08
