In a tweet on Saturday afternoon, the prime minister wrote: “The callous attack on Salman Rushdie is a blow to the freedom of expression on which our world relies.”
Read more: Salman Rushdie attack: Suspect charged with attempted murder, assault
“No one should be threatened or harmed based on what they have written. I wish him a speedy recovery.” The brazen attack on Salman Rushdie is a blow to the freedom of expression on which our world is built. No one should be threatened or harmed based on what they have written. I wish him a speedy recovery. — Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 13, 2022 Story continues below ad Rushdie, 75, suffered liver damage, severed nerves in an arm and an eye and was on a ventilator and unable to speak after being attacked on stage before a lecture in New York state, his agent Andrew Whaley told Friday night. He was likely to lose the injured eye. Rushdie’s alleged assailant, Hadi Mattar, 24, was due in court on Saturday to face charges of attempted murder and assault, authorities said. He was arrested after the attack at the Chautauqua Foundation, a nonprofit education and retreat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak. Writers, activists and government officials condemned the attack and cited Rushdie’s courage in his long-standing defense of free speech, despite risks to his own safety. News of the attack was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for the award-winning author who has faced death threats for more than 30 years over his novel The Satanic Verses. Rushdie’s fellow writer and longtime friend Ian McGewan called him “an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists around the world,” while actor-writer Cal Penn cited him as a role model “for a whole generation of artists, especially many of us in The South Asian diaspora towards which he has shown incredible warmth.’ 3:43 Salman Rushdie attack: police name suspect, author’s condition update Salman Rushdie attack: police name suspect, author’s condition update Canadian writers, publishers and literary figures also doubled down on the right to freedom of thought and expression after the attack. Story continues below ad Penguin Random House Canada executive vice-president and publisher Louise Dennys, who has published and edited Rushdie’s writings for more than 30 years, called the attack “cowardly” and “reprehensible in every way.” Dennis said the novelist is one of the biggest advocates of freedom of thought and speech in the world today, adding that the attack is already backfiring its suspected intentions given the support from the international literary community. Canadian writer John Ralston Saul, who has known Rushdie since the 1990s, said the writer always knew someone could attack him, but chose to live publicly to speak out against those trying to silence free expression and discussion.
Read more: Salman Rushdie: Writer on ventilator after stabbing on New York stage
Rushdie, a native of India who has since lived in Britain and the US, is known for his surreal and satirical prose style, beginning with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel Midnight’s Children — a book in which he sharply criticized India. then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi. The Satanic Verses drew death threats after its publication in 1988, with many Muslims considering a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous, among other objections. Rushdie’s book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death. Story continues below ad — With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press © 2022 Global News, a division of Corus Entertainment Inc.
