After the dread and worry, reassuring news. Two days after the violent attempted murder he suffered on Friday in New York State, as he was preparing to give a literary conference, the writer Salman Rushdie, 75, remains hospitalized in serious condition. , Pennsylvania. But he is better and has been able to say a few words.
Salman Rushdie is not “no longer on artificial respirators, talk (and joke)”the writer Aatish Taseer, holder of dual British and American nationality, had tweeted on Saturday evening as the author of the Satanic verses. This message, the first indication of the evolution of Salman Rushdie’s state of health after a long Saturday of uncertainty, was then deleted by its author. Who, on Sunday, apologized in a new tweet : “Not my role to give news. It was just a great joy to finally have some good news.”
Responsible for speaking officially on the state of health of Salman Rushdie, his agent Andrew Wylie confirmed on Saturday evening at the New York Times that he had started to speak, before giving more details in a press release sent Sunday morning to several American media. The writer “no longer on life support, so the road to recovery has begunhe says. It will be long, the injuries are serious, but his condition is moving in the right direction.”
Friday evening, a few hours after the events, Andrew Wylie was alarmist, pointing out that “the news” they were not “not good”. “Salman is likely to lose an eye, the nerves in his arm have been severed and his liver has been stabbed and damaged”he confided just after the surgery undergone by the writer.
Stabbed ten times
The alleged assailant of Salman Rushdie, a 24-year-old American of Lebanese descent, born in California a decade after the publication of the satanic verses, which earned the writer a “fatwa” from Iran in 1989, was presented on Saturday to a New York State judge, before whom he pleaded “not guilty” of “attempted murder”.
During this procedural hearing at the Chautauqua court, Hadi Matar, a resident of the neighboring state of New Jersey, appeared in a black and white striped prison uniform, handcuffed and masked, and did not say a word. after the New York Times and photos from the local press. He is due to appear again next Friday.
For the prosecutor, premeditation is beyond doubt. Because like all the other spectators present Friday morning in the amphitheater of the Chautauqua Institution, Hadi Matar had bought a ticket to attend the conference of Salman Rushdie. According to the Chautauqua County District Attorney’s Office, which provided details of the assault during the court hearing, he stabbed the writer about 10 times, including three in the neck and four in the abdomen. . Salman Rushdie also had a wound in his right eye, chest and right thigh.
“My life is back to normal”
Settled in the United States for twenty years, Salman Rushdie had resumed an almost normal life, without police protection, even if the “fatwa” launched against him by Ayatollah Khomeini had, in fact, never been lifted.
Coincidence, the German magazine Stern had interviewed him a few days ago, before the attack: “Since I live in the United States, I no longer have any problem […] My life is back to normal”then assured the writer, in this interview to be published in full on August 18, saying to himself “optimistic” despite “the daily death threats”.
In a late statement released on Saturday evening, more than twenty-four hours after the events, US President Joe Biden condemned “brutal attack” against the author of Satanic verses. “Salman Rushdie, with his vision of humanity, his unrivaled sense of storytelling, his refusal to be intimidated or silenced, embodies essential and universal values. Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society.wrote the tenant of the White House.
Update : updated at 4:39 p.m. with statement from Salman Rushdie’s agent