“The Satanic Verses”
Popular author Salman Rushdie attacked on stage in upstate New York
Author Salman Rushdie
© picture alliance / Henning Kaiser / DPA
Salman Rushdie, author of the book “The Satanic Verses”, has been attacked on stage in New York, according to media reports. The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Rushdie in 1989, demanding his death.
Author Salman Rushdie, whose work led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked on Friday while preparing to give a lecture in western New York. That’s what they report Associated Press news agency and the British broadcaster BBC consistent. The police and emergency services were called to the event venue in western New York State, the police confirmed to the German Press Agency on Friday.
An Associated Press reporter saw a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and began punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced, according to the report. Rushdie fell to the ground and the man was pinned down. A picture from the AP shows people tending to Rushdie, who is lying on the ground. Nothing is known about his condition at this time.
Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988 because many Muslims consider it blasphemous. A year later, the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
Iran distanced itself from fatwa – anti-Rushdie sentiment persisted
Iran has also offered a reward of more than $3 million for anyone who kills Rushdie. A Japanese translator was later actually killed. Rushdie had to go into hiding and was given police protection. According to the Associated Press, the Iranian government has since distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree. But anti-Rushdie sentiment lingered. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation increased Rushdie’s bounty from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.
Rushdie denied the threat at the time, saying there was “no evidence” people were interested in the reward. That year Rushdie published his memoir Joseph Anton on the fatwa.
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.