The writer, target of a fatwa since 1989, was attacked with a knife this Thursday in New York State when he was about to give a conference. His state of health is still “unknown”, but the alleged attacker has been arrested.
British author Salman Rushdie, whose book The Satanic Verses made him the target of a fatwa in the late 1980s, was stabbed in the neck on Friday by a man at a conference in western New York. At this point, Governor Kathy Hochul said the British author was “alive”, but the 75-year-old’s condition is “unknown”, according to New York State Police.
In February 1989, a fatwa calling for the murder of the writer was issued by the Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini because of the publication of his controversial book. satanic verses. Writings considered blasphemous and had set the Muslim world ablaze at the time. The book was then banned in twenty countries.
The hospitalized writer, “his unknown state”
This Friday afternoon, Salman Rushdie was on stage when he was attacked from behind by a man who stabbed him “repeatedly” in the “neck and abdomen”, according to the information provided by the New York State Police during a press conference on Friday. Salman Rushdie was about to speak at a conference, as he used to give for years. US police said he was taken to hospital by helicopter. His state of health is not yet known but in the evening, his agent indicated that he was undergoing surgery.
“A suspect rushed to the stage (of an amphitheater) and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer. Rushdie suffered an apparent neck injury after being stabbed,” New York State Police said. , in a press release.
An attack during a conference in a cultural center in New York
The writer was preparing to give a reading session as part of a conference at the Chautauqua Institution, a cultural center located in upstate New York, near Lake Erie which separates the States of Canada. The establishment said in a statement that it was “coordinating with law enforcement and emergency services to respond to the public following today’s attack on Salman Rushdie”.
Witnesses in the amphitheater, including journalists, tweeted that the room had been “evacuated”. Video images posted on social networks show spectators in the amphitheater rushing to the stage to help someone seen on the ground, surrounded by several people.
A second person injured “in the head”
The person who was to give the floor to the writer was also “slightly injured in the head”, according to the police.
The suspect is a 24 year old male
New York State Police say the attacker was immediately arrested and taken into custody. At this stage, an investigation was opened and entrusted to the FBI, but the motivations of this individual are still unknown. US police, however, said it was a 24-year-old man from New Jersey, who “had an access card to the place as a participant”.
A fervent defender of freedom of expression
Salman Rushdie, an American citizen for 20 years, used to participate in this kind of conferences where he had become a symbol and a defender of freedom of expression and the fight against religious obscurantism. Very active in politics and on social networks, the writer was very present on the media scene and other literary fairs.
At the time, it was the second chapter (a few dozen pages out of several hundred) of his book The Satanic Verses which is scandalous. Salman Rushdie depicts scenes there where the character, vaguely ridiculous, of the prophet Mahound – allusion to the founder of Islam, Mahomet -, abused by Satan, preaches the belief in other divinities than Allah, before recognizing his error.
Reduced police protection at his request
Salman Rushdie was therefore forced to live in hiding and under police protection since February 14, 1989. The writer used to go from cache to cache, he called himself Joseph Anton. Settled in New York for a few years, his police protection had been significantly reduced in recent years, at his request. Salman Rushdie had, however, resumed a more or less normal life while continuing to defend, in his books, satire and irreverence.
If the investigation has only just begun, the American authorities emphasize that the security of the event which the author was to attend “was quite light”. Witnesses told CNN that there were no strip searches for the public, or metal detectors.