A 24-year-old storms the stage and stabs the world-famous author. As Salman Rushdie struggles with his injuries in the hospital, the search for a motive continues.
The writer Salman Rushdie actually wanted to speak about persecuted artists in the USA on Friday. But suddenly, right there, on the open stage, he becomes the victim of a brutal attack. A 24-year-old stabbed the 75-year-old several times in the town of Chautauqua in western New York State, seriously injuring him.
Rushdie is taken to a hospital, operated on and put on a ventilator, according to his manager Andrew Wylie. There is no new information about his condition.
He cannot speak and will likely lose an eye, Wylie wrote, according to the New York Times. Nerves in his arm were severed and his liver was damaged. “The news is not good.” The alleged perpetrator, a man from the state of New Jersey, was arrested. He must have acted alone, said a police spokesman. Is the attack related to the decades-old fatwa issued against Rushdie? Not clear.
Religious leaders called for killing
Rushdie was sentenced to death by fatwa more than 30 years ago. Because of his work “The Satanic Verses” from 1988, the then Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini published the religious legal document that called for the author to be killed. Khomeini accused Rushdie of insulting Islam, the Prophet and the Koran in his novel.
The fatwa was followed by Rushdie’s dramatic escape and, at times, years of hiding to escape the death sentence. He has now lived in New York for more than 20 years.
The crime now happened during a lecture by Rushdie in the so-called Chautauqua Institution, an educational and cultural center in a rural area of the state. The event was part of a series entitled “More than Shelter” to discuss the US as a haven for exiled writers and the persecution of artists.
perpetrator was arrested
According to police, the young man stormed the stage at the event, which was attended by hundreds of people, around 11:00 a.m. local time (5:00 p.m. CEST) and stabbed Rushdie. “Several event staff and spectators fell on the suspect and took him to the ground,” a spokesman said. A police officer then arrested the 24-year-old.
Meanwhile, Rushdie was treated by a doctor from the audience until paramedics arrived and the author was eventually taken to a clinic by helicopter. According to information from the US broadcaster CNN, the institute had refused to increase security two days earlier. However, it is unclear whether the assassination attempt on Rushdie could have been prevented with the recommended measures, the broadcaster wrote.
The alleged perpetrator is being investigated for attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault. This was announced by the State Police of the State of New York. According to the police, the man is being held in custody with no possibility of being released on bail. There was no further information on a motive for the crime. Second-degree murder is a separate offense in the US legal system for the death of a human being. He can be sentenced to years in prison in New York State.
Worldwide horror
The attack sparked global outrage. Chancellor Olaf Scholz condemned the attack. “What a heinous act!” Wrote the Chancellor on Twitter on Saturday. He wished the author a lot of strength for the recovery. “The world needs people like you who are not intimidated by hate and fearlessly stand up for freedom of expression.”
Foreign Minister Annalena Baerbock (Greens) wrote on Twitter: “Anyone who justifies this assassination attempt is spreading nothing but hatred and extremism. Anyone who believes in peaceful coexistence must oppose this clearly and consistently.”
“This act of violence is appalling,” said National Security Advisor Jack Sullivan, according to a White House statement. UN Secretary-General António Guterres also reacted with horror to the attack. US Senator and Senate Majority Leader Chuck Schumer wrote on Twitter that the act was an “attack on freedom of speech and thought”. French President Emmanuel Macron wrote that Rushdie was met with “hatred and barbarism”. German writer Günter Wallraff, who hid Rushdie in his home in Cologne-Ehrenfeld in 1993, said the news was “naturally a blow to me”.
Israeli Prime Minister Jair Lapid condemned the knife attack as an “attack on our freedoms and values”. The incident was “the result of decades of incitement led by the extremist regime in Tehran,” Lapid wrote on Twitter.
On behalf of the people of Israel, he wished the writer a full and speedy recovery.
According to a local mayor, the attacker’s family is believed to be from southern Lebanon. The parents come from the town of Jarun, but to his knowledge the 24-year-old himself has never visited Lebanon, said the mayor of the town, Ali Kassim Tahfa, of the German Press Agency. There was initially no official confirmation of this. Southern Lebanon is a stronghold of the Shiite Hezbollah organization, which is closely allied with Iran, which is also Shiite.
A few days ago, Rushdie told Stern magazine that he felt safe in the United States. “It was a long time ago,” Rushdie said in an interview with correspondent Raphael Geiger at the end of July when asked if he still feared for his life. “It was serious for a few years,” Rushdie continued. “But since I’ve been living in America, I haven’t had any more problems.” However, the author also warned about the political climate and possible violence in the USA: The bad thing is “that death threats have become commonplace”.
years of hiding
According to information from his publisher last year, the fatwa no longer had any meaning for Rushdie. He is no longer restricted in his freedom of movement and no longer needs bodyguards. However, the years of hiding did not leave him untouched. He processed this time in the autobiography “Joseph Anton” from 2012, named after his alias.
Rushdie was born in the year of Indian independence in 1947 in the metropolis of Mumbai (then Bombay). He later studied history at King’s College, Cambridge. He had his breakthrough as an author with the book “Midnight’s Children” (“Midnight’s Children”), which was awarded the prestigious Booker Prize in 1981. In it he tells the story of India’s detachment from the British Empire based on the life stories of protagonists who are born at the precise moment of independence and are endowed with supernatural abilities.
Rushdie has published more than two dozen fiction, non-fiction, and other writings. His style is called Magical Realism, in which realistic events are interwoven with fantastic events.