Salman Rushdie on life support following attack in New York
Salman Rushdie, the Indian descent author whose writings resulted in death threats from Iran in the 1980s was stabbed while he was getting ready to give a lecture in southwest New York State.
Police confirmed that Rushdie was stabbed “at least once in his neck, and his abdomen” on Friday after an assailant rushed to the stage and jumped on the 75-year-old writer just as he was introduced to the audience.
After being flown to the hospital where he spent hours in surgery, Rushdie was on a ventilator and incapable of speaking Friday evening.
“The news is not good,” Andrew Wylie, his book agent, said in an e-mail to the Reuters news agency. “Salman will probably lose an eye; the nerves in his arm were cut, and his liver was stabbed and damaged.
Police identified the suspect as Hadi Matar,24, who belonged to New Jersey.
New York State Police Major Eugene Staniszewski told reporters on Friday afternoon that the perpetrators had “no indication of motive” at this “very early” stage of the investigation. They thought that Matar was on his own.