Author Salman Rushdie is likely to lose an eye and suffered severed nerves in an arm and liver damage after being stabbed, his agent has said.
The 75-year-old remains on a ventilator after being airlifted to hospital and undergoing hours of surgery following the attack in New York state.
“The news is not good. Salman will likely lose an eye, the nerves in his arm have been severed and his liver has been stabbed and damaged,” Andrew Wylie said in a statement.
The Indian-born British author was introduced to the public before giving a talk at the Chautauqua Institution, when a man stormed the stage and began attacking him, witnesses said.
As Mr. Salman fell to the floor, the man was pinned down by members of the public and staff who ran onto the stage. The suspect was arrested shortly thereafter by a state trooper and is currently in custody.
He was identified as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, who purchased a pass for the event. Police say they don’t yet know the motive for the attack, but believe the suspect acted alone.
One person was pictured being held outside Chautauqua Institution. Photo: AP
Read more: Why is Salman Rushdie so controversial?
Witness Pilar Pintagro told Sky News: “We were very scared because the first place (he was stabbed) was in the neck and that’s where the blood started splattering everywhere and then he stabbed him in the shoulders and kept stabbing multiple times because he was so fast.
“People in the audience actually jumped on stage to try to put him down and Salman was trying to get away from this guy, but he kept stabbing a few times, and he finally got cornered.”
Sir Salman was airlifted to hospital
‘In a state of shock’
The writer was helped by a doctor who was in the audience before help arrived.
Police say event moderator Henry Reese suffered a minor head injury after he was also attacked.
Another witness, Julia Mineeva Braun, told Sky News that when Sir Salman was introduced “suddenly from the left side of the stage, a small man, (dressed) all in black, ran away and approached of Mr. Rushdie”.
“It was very quick…we thought he was fixing his mic, then we saw the knife. First he started stabbing him in the neck…and Mr. Rushdie got up and walked away. started running. We are still in shock.”
Sir Salman lives in New York and became a US citizen in 2016. His talk was to discuss America’s role as a haven for writers and other artists in exile, and as a home for freedom of creative expression .
Rushdie’s fourth book, The Satanic Verses, was banned in 1988 in a number of countries with large Muslim populations, including Iran, after it was considered by some to contain blasphemous passages.
Photo: AP
In 1989, then-Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Sir Salman’s death.
The Middle Eastern country has also offered a bounty of more than $3 million to anyone who kills the writer.
