Rushdie, 75, was taken to hospital and underwent surgery after the attack. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said Friday night that the writer is currently on a ventilator and unable to speak. He said Rushdie will likely lose an eye, adding that the nerves in his hand were “severed” and his liver was “stabbed and damaged”.
Police identified the shooter as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey. Matar was arrested on charges of attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault, the NYPD said in a statement Saturday. The suspect was taken to the Chautauqua County Jail and will be arraigned Saturday, they said.
He was arrested at the Chautauqua Foundation, a non-profit training and retreat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak.
This still video image shows Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, NJ, left, being escorted from the stage as people tend to author Salman Rushdie, center right, at the Chautauqua Foundation, in Chautauqua, New York, Friday, August 12, 2022. / AP
Matar was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who immigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, Mayor Ali Tehfe told The Associated Press.
Its birth was a decade after the publication of “The Satanic Verses” – Rushdie’s 1988 novel that prompted death threats from Iran’s leader decades ago.
A motive for the attack was unclear, said State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski.
An official from the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah told Reuters on Saturday that the group “knows nothing” about the suspect and declined to comment.
Matar, like other visitors, had received a pass to enter the Chautauqua Foundation’s 750-acre grounds, said Michael Hill, foundation president.
The suspect’s attorney, Public Defender Nathaniel Barone, said he was still gathering information and declined to comment. Matar’s home was cordoned off by the authorities.
WNY News Now captured video of Matar being transported to the Chautauqua County Jail late Friday night from the New York State Police barracks in Jamestown.
“The Satanic Verses” was considered blasphemous by many Muslims, who saw a character as an insult to the Prophet Muhammad, among other objections. The book was banned in Iran, where the late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
Iran’s theocratic government and state media have offered no motive for Friday’s attack. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed Saturday by the AP praised the attack on a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country.
An AP reporter saw the attacker confront Rushdie on stage and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as the author presented. Dr Martin Haskell, a doctor who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdie’s injuries as “serious but recoverable”.
Event coordinator Henry Reese, 73, co-founder of an organization that offers housing to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. Reese suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from the hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a haven for writers and other artists in exile.
A state trooper and a county sheriff’s deputy were assigned to Rushdy’s lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn’t tighter security for the event, given decades of threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head that offered more than $3 million for whoever killed him.
Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the approximately 2,500 people in the audience for Rushdie’s appearance.
The assailant ran onto the stand “and started hitting Mr. Rushdie. At first you’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then it became clear within seconds that he was being hit,” Savenor said. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds.
Dramatic video of the aftermath of the attack was posted on social media.
New video shows moments of chaos after influential writer Salman Rushdie was stabbed. Police units were on the scene within seconds.
Video via MentNews pic.twitter.com/po8x0mrpj9
— Moshe Schwartz (@YWNReporter) August 12, 2022
Another onlooker, Kathleen James, said the attacker was dressed in black, wearing a black mask.
“We thought maybe it was part of a ploy to show that there’s still a lot of controversy surrounding this author. But it became apparent within seconds” that it wasn’t, he said.
Amid fumes, the spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater.
The stabbing reverberated from the quiet town of Chautauqua to the United Nations, which issued a statement expressing the horror of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and stressing that free expression and opinion should not be met with violence.
Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s attack, which led to an evening newscast on Iranian state television.
From the White House, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called the attack “reprehensible” and said the Biden administration wished Rushdie a speedy recovery.
“This act of violence is abhorrent,” Sullivan said in a statement. “We are grateful to the good citizens and first responders who helped Mr. Rushdie so quickly after the attack and to law enforcement for their swift and effective work, which is ongoing.”
“Our thoughts are with Salman and his loved ones after this horrific event,” New York Gov. Kathy Hotchul tweeted after the attack.
Rushdie was a prominent spokesman for free speech and liberal causes, and the literary world decried what Ian McGewan, a novelist and friend of Rushdie’s, described as “an attack on freedom of thought and speech”.
“Salman has been an inspiring defender of persecuted writers and journalists around the world,” McGewan said in a statement. “He is a fiery and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage and will not be deterred.”
PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel said the organization was not aware of any similar act of violence against a literary writer in the U.S. Rushdie was once president of the group, which supports writers and free expression.
After the publication of “The Satanic Verses,” often violent protests broke out across the Muslim world against Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim family.
At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 in Rushdie’s hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the book’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived.
Khomeini died the same year he issued the fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death. Iran’s current supreme leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, never issued a fatwa to withdraw the decree, although Iran in recent years has not focused on the author.
Threats to his life and a reward led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection scheme, which included a 24-hour armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years in seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall.
In 2012, Rushdie published the memoir “Joseph Anton”, about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie used when in hiding. He said during a speech in New York the same year the memoir was released that terrorism was really the art of fear.
“The only way to beat it is to decide not to be afraid,” he said.
Anti-Rushdi sentiment has lingered long after Khomeini’s decree. The Index on Censorship, an organization that promotes free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for his killing as recently as 2016.
An AP reporter who went to the office of the 15 Khordad Foundation in Tehran, which provided the millions for Rushdie’s prize, found it closed Friday night during Iran’s weekend. No one answered calls to his listed phone number.
Rushdie rose to fame with his 1981 Booker Prize-winning novel ‘Midnight’s Children’, but it was ‘The Satanic Verses’ that made his name known around the world.
Widely regarded as one of Britain’s greatest living writers, Rushdie was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2008 and earlier this year was made a Fellow of the Order of Honour, a royal honor for people who have made significant contributions to the arts, science or public life.
Organizers of the Edinburgh International Book Festival, which opens Saturday in Scotland and is one of the world’s largest literary gatherings, are encouraging visiting authors to read a passage from Rushdie’s work at the start of their events.
“We are inspired by his courage and thinking of him at this difficult time,” said festival director Nick Barley. “This tragedy is a painful reminder of the fragility of the things we hold dear and a call to action: We will not be intimidated by those who would use violence instead of words.”
The Chautauqua Foundation, about 55 miles (89 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place of reflection and spiritual guidance. Guests do not pass through metal detectors and do not undergo a baggage check. Most people leave the doors of their centuries-old homes unlocked at night.
The center is known for its summer lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken in the past.
At an evening vigil, a few hundred residents and visitors gathered for prayer, music and a long period of silence.
“Hate cannot win,” one man shouted.
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