An Associated Press reporter saw a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Foundation and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced. The 75-year-old writer was pushed or fell to the floor and the man restrained himself. Rushdie was quickly surrounded by a small group of people who lifted his legs, presumably to send more blood to his chest. His condition was not immediately known. Hundreds of people in the audience gasped at the sight of the attack and then walked away. Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it blasphemous. A year later, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death. A reward of more than $3 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie. Iran’s government has long distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, but anti-Rushdi sentiment has remained. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation increased the prize for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million. Rushdie dismissed that threat at the time, saying there was “no evidence” that people were interested in the reward. That year, Rushdie published a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie had used while in hiding. Rushdie rose to fame with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel ‘Midnight’s Children’, but his name became known around the world after ‘The Satanic Verses’. The Chautauqua Foundation, about 55 miles southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, is known for its summer lecture series. Rushdie has spoken there before.
