Don’t Offend Islam: Salman Rushdie Stabbed While Preparing to Give Speech in New York

Author Salman Rushdie was attacked and stabbed on stage Friday while he was about to give a speech at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York.

This from slaynews.com.

Remember, Rushdie’s writing “The Satanic Verses” previously led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s.

He received aid on-site and was evacuated to a hospital for further care.

The following in part from msn.com.

The suspect, 24-year-old Hadi Matar, from New Jersey, according to authorities, with a last listed address in Fairview, a Bergen County borough just across the Hudson River from Manhattan. FBI officials were seen going into the home of Matar Friday evening.

Spectator Kathleen Jones said the attacker was dressed in black, with a black mask.

“We thought perhaps it was part of a stunt to show that there’s still a lot of controversy around this author. But it became evident in a few seconds that it wasn’t.”

Rabbi Charles Savenor, another of the roughly 2,500 people in the audience, said:

Spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater amid gasps.

The assailant ran onto the platform and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then it became abundantly clear in a few seconds that he was being beaten.

The attack lasted about 20 seconds.

After Rushdie was pushed or fell to the floor, Matar was arrested by a New York State Trooper, and was awaiting arraignment.

It was not immediately clear what charges he would face for the attack on the author whose novel “The Satanic Verses” drew death threats from Iran’s leader in the 1980s.

A bloodied Rushdie, 75, was flown to a hospital following the attack. His agent, Andrew Wylie, said the writer was undergoing surgery, but he had no other details.

As APNews reminds us:

Rushdie’s book ‘The Satanic Verses’ has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous.

The lesson to be learned here, don’t speak or write offensively about Islam.

A bounty of over $3 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie.

The death threats and bounty led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection program, which included a round-the-clock armed guard.

Rushdie emerged after nine years of seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall.

From The Daily Mail:

Khomeini called for the death of Rushdie and his publishers and also called for Muslims to point him out to those who could kill him if they could not themselves.

He was forced to go into hiding for a decade with police protection and previously reported that he received a ‘sort of Valentine’s card’ from Iran each year letting him know the country has not forgotten the vow to kill him.

Hitoshi Igarashi, who translated The Satanic Verses into Japanese for Rushdie, was stabbed to death on the campus where he taught literature.

Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator of the book, was knifed in his apartment in Milan.

The novel’s Norwegian publisher William Nygaard was shot three times outside his home and left for dead in October 1993 but survived the attack.

In Turkey, the book’s translator, Aziz Nesin, was the target of an arson attack on a hotel that killed 37.