Henry Rees, 73, could barely open his blackened right eye as he spoke late Tuesday to the BBC about last Friday’s attack at the Chautauqua Foundation, about 55 miles south of Buffalo. In addition to deep bruising to the eye, he had multiple stitches above it from a stab wound sustained while holding the legs of the man who stormed the scene and repeatedly stabbed Rushdie. Henry Rees’ injuries included a painful black eye as well as stitches to a stab wound just above his right eye. “I’m doing well, everything is progressing — I’m doing very well,” he told the British television station from his home in Pittsburgh. “Our concern is for Salman,” he said of the author of “The Satanic Verses,” who was initially put on a ventilator and may lose one of his eyes. “And I mean that for himself, but also for what he means to the world. And he’s important to the world,” Rees said of the author. Henry Rees said his “ideal” conclusion would be to finally be able to deliver the speech on stage as planned to show that their shared values ”can be defended”. tried to restrain the attacker’s legs.TMX/Mary Newsom via REUTERS Rees was chosen to moderate the interview with Rushdie – who for years lived in hiding after Iran put a bounty on his head – because of his work with City of Asylum, a group that supports persecuted writers. The pair had yet to settle down and begin the conversation when the attacker stormed the scene, stabbing Rushdie three times in the neck, four times in the stomach and also injuring his chest, right thigh and right eye. “Our mission is to protect writers who are sheltered. And to see Salman Rushdie attacking for his life is unimaginable … it’s hard to describe what it’s like to see that happen in front of you,” Reese told the BBC. “There couldn’t be anything more vivid in the realization of our values,” he said. The soft-spoken moderator told The Atlantic that his stab wound came as he was holding the legs of Rushdie’s assailant, whom authorities identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar of New Jersey. “It’s a very bold attack on the basic values of freedom and non-violent ways of resolving disputes through art, literature, journalism,” Rees told the magazine. “It’s given a very visceral, instant connection to me personally, and certainly to Salman, it’s probably never left the back of his mind – but now it’s caught on permanently, naturally,” he said. He hopes that one day he will finally be able to make the planned speech, he told the BBC. “That would be my ideal, to see it happen and not be hindered in any way from doing what we wanted to do. To show both that these values will be defended and that they can be defended,” he said. Rushdie had received death threats since the late 1980s after Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who has since died, issued a fatwa calling for his death over his book “The Satanic Verses,” which some consider as blasphemy. The suspected attacker, Matar, previously posted on social media in support of Iran and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. He also reportedly had contact with the Revolutionary Guards on social media. He pleaded not guilty to the charges of attempted murder and assault. The suspect, Hadi Matar, 24, of New Jersey, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault. An Iranian official denied on Monday that Tehran was involved in Rushdie’s stabbing, but tried to justify the attack. “Regarding the attack on Salman Rushdie in America, we do not consider anyone worthy of reprimand, blame or even condemnation, except for Rushdie himself and his supporters,” said Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani.
