UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet that he was “shocked” by the incident and expressed his support for Rushdie’s recovery. “I am appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed while exercising a right that we must never stop defending. My thoughts are with his loved ones at this time. We hope they are all well,” Johnson said on Friday. French President Emmanuel Macron also tweeted his support for Rushdie after the attack. “[For] For 33 years, Salman Rushdie has embodied freedom and the fight against obscurantism. He has just fallen victim to a cowardly attack by the forces of hatred and brutality. His fight is our fight. it is universal. Now more than ever, we stand by his side,” Macron said. Australian Prime Minister Anthony Albanese also condemned the attack, calling it “sick and cowardly”. “This senseless violence against a famous writer is also an attack on global freedom of expression and deserves unequivocal condemnation. May he make a full recovery,” Albanese added. The 75-year-old novelist — the son of a successful Muslim businessman in India — was educated in England, first at Rugby School and later at Cambridge University where he received a master’s degree in history. He later spent a decade under British protection after his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, prompted Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a religious edict, or fatwa, calling for his death. The bounty against Rushdie has never been lifted, but in 1998 the Iranian government tried to distance itself from the fatwa, pledging not to seek to implement it. But in February 2017, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed the religious decree. And in 2019, Khamenei tweeted that Khomeini’s fatwa against Rushdie was “firm and irrevocable,” prompting Twitter to place restrictions on his account. Iranian-born German politician Bijan Djir-Sarai blamed the Iranian government for the attack, saying in a tweet on Friday: “The regime of Iranian mullahs is also responsible for this cowardly attack. Anyone who wants normal relations with this regime should know this. “. The suspect in the attack has been identified as Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey. There has been no official reaction from Iran on the attack yet. However, several hardline Iranian newspapers praised Matar on Saturday, including the conservative Kayhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Khamenei. “A thousand bravos, a hundred God bless. His hand must be kissed… Bravo to the warrior and obedient who attacked the Apostate and evil Salman Rushdie. The warrior’s hand must be kissed. He tore the vein of Rushdie’s neck, ” the newspaper reported. Another hardline newspaper, Khorasan, ran a headline, “The Devil on the Path to Hell” while showing a photo of Rushdie on a stretcher. The news has shocked writers from across South Asia and the diaspora, including Bangladeshi author Taslima Nasreen, who said she was “shocked” by the news. “I never thought it would happen. She has been living in the West and protected since 1989,” said Nasreen, who is known for her writings on the oppression of women and who has had some of her books banned in Bangladesh. “If they attack him, anyone who criticizes Islam can be attacked. I’m worried,” he said. Aatish Taseer, a British-American writer and journalist who had a Citizen of India (OCI) card — a form of permanent residence available to people of Indian origin — revoked by Prime Minister Narendra Modi in 2019, said he was “devastated” from the news.
“Shocked by the news about @SalmanRushdie. He was the first writer I ever met and his determination to stand up for his (and others’) freedom in the face of religious extremism has been a constant inspiration. I know he’ll be ok. he has to be,” Taseer said. American writers and organizations have also been caught up in the onslaught. Rushdie has been living in the United States for the past few years.
The press freedom group PEN America said in a statement Friday that the organization is “running in shock and horror” after Friday’s attack. “We can think of no comparable incident of a public attack on a literary author on American soil,” said CEO Suzanne Nossel. “Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades, but he never flinched or faltered,” Nossel said. “She has devoted tireless energy to helping others who are vulnerable and threatened.” Nosel also said that hours before the attack Rushdie had emailed her asking for help finding safe haven for “Ukrainian writers who need safe haven from the serious dangers they face.” CNN’s Eyad Kourdi, Jake Kwon, Alex Stambaugh, Jonny Hallam and Ramin Moshtaghian contributed reporting.