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 writer fell to the floor and the man held himself back. Rushdie’s condition was not immediately known. Bloodstains mark a screen as author Salman Rushdie tends behind the screen after he was attacked during a lecture, Friday, Aug. 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Foundation in Chautauqua, New York (Joshua Goodman/The Associated Press) 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. Iran has also offered more than US$3 million as a reward for anyone who kills Rushdie. The Iranian government has long since distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, but anti-Rushdi sentiment 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. More to come
