A 24-year-old storms the stage and stabs Salman Rushdie. Does an old death sentence against the world-famous author play a role?
Update from Saturday, August 13, 6:05 a.m .: After the attack on Salman Rushdie, according to his manager, the writer is on a ventilator. “The news is not good,” Andrew Wylie wrote Friday night (local time), according to the New York Times . The 75-year-old cannot speak and will likely lose an eye. Nerves in his arm were severed and his liver was damaged.
According to police, the young man stormed the stage at the event, which was attended by hundreds of people, around 11 a.m. local time (5 p.m. CEST) and stabbed Rushdie. “Several event staff and spectators fell on the suspect and took him to the ground,” a spokesman said. A police officer then arrested the 24-year-old. Meanwhile, Rushdie was treated by a doctor from the audience until paramedics arrived and the author was eventually taken to a clinic by helicopter.
There were initially no details about the background to the attack. It was initially unclear whether this was related to a decades-old fatwa. Rushdie was sentenced to death more than 30 years ago: Because of his work “The Satanic Verses” from 1988, the then Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini published the religious legal document that called for the author to be killed. Some Muslims felt their religious sensibilities were offended by the work.
Salman Rushdie injured in the neck in an attack
+++ 18:34: The world-famous author Salman Rushdie was injured in an attack on a stage in New York State. The 75-year-old writer was taken to a nearby hospital by helicopter. “Nothing is known about his condition,” the New York City Police Department said. At 11 a.m. local time, 5 p.m. BST, “the male suspect ran onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer,” it said. The attacker was arrested.
The New York Times quoted a witness as saying, “There was only one attacker.” And further: “He was dressed in black. He was wearing a loose black garment. He ran towards him at lightning speed.”
Update from Friday, August 12, 6:27 p.m .: The author Salman Rushdie was attacked with a knife during a lecture on a stage in Chautauqua, USA. According to police, he was injured in the attack in the neck. The perpetrator was arrested on Friday in the event hall in the US state of New York, the New York police said.
Initial report on Friday, August 12: Chautauqua – Author Salman Rushdie has been assaulted on a stage in upstate New York. According to the AFP news agency, the police confirmed a knife attack on the spot, but initially did not provide any information on the identity of the victim.
Police and emergency services were called to the event venue in Chautauqua in western New York State, the police confirmed to the German Press Agency.
Author Salman Rushdie attacked on stage in New York
Because of his work The Satanic Verses (1988), Rushdie was once subjected to a fatwa calling for his death. Some Muslims felt their religious sensibilities were offended by the work. Iran’s revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued an Islamic legal opinion calling for the killing of Rushdie and everyone involved in distributing the book. A Japanese translator was later actually killed. Rushdie had to go into hiding and was given police protection.
Rushdie was born in the year of Indian independence in 1947 in the metropolis of Mumbai (then Bombay). He later studied history at King’s College, Cambridge. He had his breakthrough as an author with the book “Midnight’s Children” (“Midnight’s Children”), which won the prestigious Booker Prize in 1981. (sne with agencies)
