Salman Rushdie, the novelist whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was reportedly shot in the neck on Friday while preparing to give a speech in western New York.
An AP reporter saw a man enter the Chautauqua Institute podium and throw 10 to 15 punches or knives as Rushdie was introduced to the audience. The 75-year-old storyteller fell on the ground and the assailant was arrested.
Rushdi was taken to the hospital by helicopter. In the midst of the accident, the audience was thrown out of the amphitheater.
Soon people surrounded Rushdi who was covered in blood and lifted his legs to possibly pour more blood into his chest.
Salman Rushdie’s name has been mentioned since the eighties of the last century after the publication of his novel “Evil Verses” in 1988, which provoked protests that led to the issuance of a fatwa to spill his blood from the late leader of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini.
Salman Rushdie, the 75-year-old novelist, is the son of an Indian Muslim businessman and was educated in England and has a master’s degree in history from Cambridge University.
After graduating from college, he began working as a copywriter in London before publishing his first novel, Grimmous, in 1975.
Rushdi’s handling of sensitive political and religious issues has made him a controversial figure. But it was the publication of his fourth novel, Ayat Shaitani, in 1988, which occupied him for more than 3 decades.
As a result of Khomeini’s fatwa, this Bombay-born writer spent a decade under British protection.
Rushdi’s novel “Evil Verses”, published in 1988, was banned in Iran. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the former leader of Iran, issued a fatwa to shed Rushdi’s blood and announced a reward of three million dollars for anyone who kills him.
The Iranian government has long since distanced itself from Khomeini’s fatwa, but anti-growth sentiments persist. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious organization increased Sir Rushdi’s prize from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.
At the time, Rushdi downplayed this threat and said that there was “no evidence” of people’s interest in this award. In that year, Rushdi published a memoir titled “Joseph Anton” that addressed this fatwa.
Rushdie had previously spoken at the Chautauqua Institute.
Source: Lebanon Debate
