The Booker Prize-winning author, who has been under death threats from Iran since the late 1980s, was stabbed multiple times on stage in western New York state and taken to a hospital, authorities said. Rushdi’s son, Zafar, said his father was still receiving treatment, but on Saturday he had been taken off a ventilator and supplemental oxygen and was able to say a few words. “Although his life-changing injuries are serious, his usual aggressive and defiant sense of humor remains intact,” Zafar Rushdie said in a statement. Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, was charged by New York authorities with attempted murder and assault following the attack. New York State Police Chief Eugene Staniszewski said a possible motive has yet to be determined. Matar’s court-appointed lawyer said he pleaded not guilty, according to Reuters. In an earlier statement, Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer would “probably lose one of his eyes. the nerves in his hand were severed. and his liver was stabbed and destroyed.” On Sunday, Wylie confirmed that Rushdie had been taken off a ventilator. “It will be a long time. the injuries are serious, but his condition is in the right direction,” Wylie said. Hadi Matar, right, has been charged with attempted murder © Gene J. Puskar/AP Rushdie was due to speak at the Chautauqua Foundation, southwest of the New York state city of Buffalo, on Friday at an event organized to discuss the US “as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for free creative expression.” . “Around 11 a.m., a male suspect came on stage and assaulted Rushdie and an interviewer,” state police said. US President Joe Biden on Saturday expressed his shock and sadness at the attack on Rushdie. “All Americans and people around the world are praying for his health and recovery.” Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses, first published in 1988, caused controversy for its depiction of the Islamic Prophet Muhammad. The book was banned in Iran and, in 1989, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie. After the death threat, Rushdie went into hiding. He lived with armed guards and adopted the pseudonym Joseph Anton. Additional reporting by Reuters