Salman Rushdie, the creator whose writing ended in dying threats from Iran within the Nineteen Eighties, was once attacked Friday as he was once about to present a lecture in the United States.
An Associated Press reporter witnessed a person typhoon the degree on the Chautauqua Institution in western New York state, and start punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was once being presented. The 75-year-old creator was once driven or fell to the ground, and the person was once restrained.
Rushdie was once temporarily surrounded via a small team of people that held up his legs, possibly to ship extra blood to his chest.
His situation was once no longer instantly recognized.
Hundreds of other people within the target market gasped on the sight of the assault and have been then evacuated.
Rushdie’s guide “The Satanic Verses” has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims imagine it to be blasphemous. A 12 months later, Iran’s past due chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s dying.
A bounty of over $3 million has additionally been introduced for any individual who kills Rushdie.
Iran’s executive has lengthy since distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, however anti-Rushdie sentiment has lingered. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian spiritual basis raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.
Rushdie pushed aside that danger on the time, pronouncing there was once “no evidence” of other people being within the praise.
That 12 months, Rushdie printed a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” in regards to the fatwa. The identify got here from the pseudonym Rushdie had used whilst in hiding.
Rushdie rose to prominence together with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel “Midnight’s Children,” however his title was recognized around the globe after “The Satanic Verses.”
The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles southwest of Buffalo in a rural nook of New York, is understood for its summertime lecture collection. Rushdie has spoken there ahead of.
