British author Salman Rushdie, author of the controversial “Satanic Verses” and a target for the death penalty for more than 30 years, was put on a ventilator after being stabbed in New York state on Friday.
“The news is not good,” the writer’s agent, Andrew Wylie, told The New York Times on Friday night.
“Salman will lose an eye; veins in his arm will be cut and he will be stabbed at the level of the liver,” said Wylie, the 75-year-old writer who is attached to a ventilator.
Rushdie was about to begin a lecture at Chautauqua in the northwestern US state of New York at around 11:00 a.m. (4:00 p.m. in Lisbon) on Friday when he was attacked.
“A suspect rushed to the scene and attacked Salman Rushdie and the interviewer,” stabbing the writer in the neck and stomach, conference moderator Ralph Henry Rees, 73, said Friday, “slightly wounding his face.”
Staniszewski explained that the attacker was detained by police, who he identified as Haddy Mather, 24, of New Jersey.
After the attack, the writer was airlifted to a nearby hospital, where he underwent emergency surgery, State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski told reporters.
Earlier today, Iran’s main daily Caihan congratulated the attacker.
“Bravo to this brave and dutiful man who attacked the traitorous and cruel Salman Rushdie,” the paper wrote.
“Let us kiss the hand of him that tore the neck of God’s enemy with a knife.”
Iranian authorities have yet to officially comment on the attempted assassination of the 75-year-old intellectual.
Salman Rushdie enraged part of the Muslim world with the publication of his book “Satanic Verses” in September 1988, which prompted the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to issue a “fatwa” (religious edict) in 1989. for his murder.
This death sentence, which lasted more than 30 years, was ordered for the crime of “blasphemy”, which deprived the writer of a chance at a normal life and alienated him from his family.
Iran announced a $3 million reward for those who killed Rushdie.
Iran’s government has long distanced itself from Khomeini’s mandate, but has anti-Rushti sentiment.
In 2012, the Iranian Religious Foundation raised the reward for Rushti’s murder to $3.3 million.
Rushdie downplayed the threat at the time, saying there was “no evidence” that people were interested in the prize money.
“Hardcore explorer. Extreme communicator. Professional writer. General music practitioner. Prone to fits of apathy.”