State institutions have called for violence against the author for generations, “and state media have recently gloated over the attack on his life, says the US Secretary of State. “It’s despicable.”
After the knife attack on Salman Rushdie, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken praised the British-Indian author’s steadfastness and criticized Iran. “Rushdie has always stood up for the universal rights of freedom of expression, freedom of religion and freedom of the press,” Blinken said in Washington. But “evil forces” tried to undermine these rights through hate speech and incitement to violence.
Rushdie, 75, has been persecuted by religious fanatics for decades. The then Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for Rushdie to be killed because of his work “The Satanic Verses” from 1988. He accused him of insulting Islam, the Prophet and the Koran. On Friday, Rushdie was attacked by a man at an event in Chautauqua, western New York, and has since been treated at a hospital in neighboring Pennsylvania. The police have not yet confirmed a motive.
“Iranian state institutions in particular have been calling for violence against Rushdie for generations, and state media have recently gloated over the attack on his life. This is despicable,” the US Secretary of State said. The US and its partners confronted such threats. Rushdie’s own strength steels US resolve and demonstrates the need to act as a united international community against those who challenge universal rights.
The Internet portal Vice News reported on Sunday, citing secret service sources from Europe and the Middle East, that the 24-year-old suspect had been in contact with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards on social media. However, there is no evidence that Iran was involved in organizing or carrying out the attack.
Rushdie is apparently doing a little better
The alleged attacker is in custody. He is charged with attempted second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon and intent to cause bodily harm, police said. Second-degree murder is a separate offense in the US legal system for the death of a human being. For this, the accused in the state of New York can be sentenced to years in prison. The alleged perpetrator remained silent in court and had his public defender declare him “not guilty”.
Rushdie is apparently doing a little better now and is no longer on artificial respiration. His son Zafar Rushdie tweeted: “Despite his serious and life-changing injuries, his usual combative and defiant sense of humor remains intact.” His father was already able to speak a few words.