A New York hospital is currently keeping Salman Rushdie on a ventilator.
Infosette (News) New York: Salman Rushdie, who spent years in hiding after an Iranian fatwa ordered his murder, was stabbed at a literary event in New York state on Friday. He is on a ventilator and may lose an eye.
Following the attack, the British author of “The Satanic Verses,” which infuriated Muslims, had to be airlifted to the hospital for emergency surgery.
In a statement obtained by The New York Times, his agent stated that “the news is not good.”
Agent Andrew Wylie stated that Rushdie “will probably lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed, and his liver was stabbed and damaged.” Wylie also stated that Rushdie was mute.
Rushdie was “stabbed repeatedly and viciously,” according to Carl LeVan, a political science professor from American University who was present at the literary event.
Before a trooper on duty at the event arrested the suspect, several people rushed to the stage and knocked him to the ground. Prior to the arrival of emergency first responders, a doctor in the audience provided medical care.
Read More: In New York, author Salman Rushdie was attacked on stage
Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from Fairfield, New Jersey, was named as the suspected attacker by the New York state police, who also stated that Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and abdomen.
The reason behind the stabbing is still unknown.
Ralph Henry Reese, a 73-year-old interviewer on stage, sustained a facial injury but was later discharged from the hospital, according to the police.
The attack happened at the Chautauqua Institution, a serene lakeside community located 110 kilometres (70 miles) south of Buffalo city and home to arts programmes.
The Chautauqua Institution released a statement saying, “What many of us witnessed today was a violent expression of hate that shook us to our core.”
The suspect “was trying to stab him as many times as possible before he was subdued,” according to LeVan, a regular at Chautauqua, who also said he thought the man “was trying to kill” Rushdie.
The crowd let out horrified and terrified gasps, the New York professor reported.