Salman Rushdie’s agent said that “the news isn’t good” after the author was attacked at an event in New York.
Andrew Wylie stated that he was attacked on stage and is now on a ventilator. He also said that the author might lose one eye.
After writing The Satanic Verses in 1988, Rushdie was subject to years of Islamist death threats.
Police arrested Hadi Matear, 24, Fairview, New Jersey.
New York State Police reported that the suspect attacked Mr Rushdie as well as an interviewer at Chautauqua Institution in western New York.
Andrew Wylie, his agent, stated that Salman would likely lose one eye. His nerves were severed in his arm and his liver was stabbed.
Police have not yet confirmed any motives or charges. They are currently obtaining search warrants to inspect a backpack and other electronic devices at the centre.
According to authorities, Mr Rushdie was stabbed at minimum once in the neck as well as in the abdomen. He was flown by helicopter to Erie, Pennsylvania.
Henry Reese was the interviewer on stage with him. He suffered a minor head injury, and was taken to a local hospital. Mr Reese co-founded a non-profit that offers sanctuary for writers who are exiled from persecution.
Police stated at a press conference, that staff and members of the audience had rushed the attacker to the ground and then took him into custody.
Linda Abrams from Buffalo, an observer, said that Rushdie kept trying to attack him after he was subdued.
Ms Abrams explained that it took five men for him to be pulled away and he was still stabbing. “He was just furious. Like intensely powerful and fast.
Rita Landman, another witness, stated to the paper that Rushdie appeared to be alive right after the attack.
She stated that “people were saying, ‘He has pulse, and he has pulse,'”
Online video shows how people rushed to help the injured men and restrain the attacker. Police stated that Rushdie was given first aid by a doctor from the audience.
Indian-born novelist Mr Rushdie became famous with Midnight’s Children (1981), which sold more than one million copies in the UK.
His fourth book, The Satanic Verses (published in 1988), forced him to hide for almost ten year.
Some Muslims were outraged by the surrealist, postmodern novel and banned it from certain countries.
Many people were killed in anti–Rushdie riots that broke out in India. In Iran, the British Embassy in Tehran was also attacked.
In 1991, a Japanese translator of this book was attacked and killed. A few months later, a second translator from Italy was also attacked and killed. William Nygaard, the Norwegian publisher of the book, was shot but both survived.
Responding to Friday’s attack on Rushdie, Mr Nygaard stated that Rushdie was a “leading author who means so much to literature” and has paid “a high cost” for his work.
Ayatollah Khani, Iran’s Supreme Leader, called for Rushdie’s execution one year after the book had been published. He offered a $3m (£2.5m) reward in a fatwa – a legal decree issued by an Islamic religious leader.
The bounty placed on Mr Rushdie’s heads remains active. Iran’s government distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree but a quasi-official Iranian religious organization added $500,000 to this reward in 2012.
British-American citizen, who was born to nonpractising Muslims and is himself an atheist, has become a vocal advocate of freedom of expression and has defended his work on numerous occasions.
Source: rnewtimes
