Author Salman author, who suffered years of religious person death threats once writing The Satanic Verses, has been attacked on stage in big apple state. The agent Prize winner, 75, was speaking at an incident at the Chautauqua establishment at the time.
big apple State Police aforesaid a male suspect ran up onto the stage and attacked adult male Rushdie and an interviewer. "Rushdie suffered a plain stab wound to the neck," the police statement said. Witnesses told America media he was injured multiple times within the neck and body area, and perceived to fall backwards as he tried to maneuver off from the assailant.
adult male author was taken to a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, by helicopter. He has been beneathgoing surgery, his agent St. Andrew poet told the BBC' America partner CBS News. There has been no additional official confirmation on the extent of his injuries. The enquirer who was additionally on stage, Henry Reese, suffered a minor head injury. Mr Reese is that the co-founder of a non-profit that has sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution. The suspect was straight off taken into custody, police said. FOLLOW LIVE UPDATES Rushdie: the author who emerged from activity Mark Sommer, a newsman for Buffalo News, told the BBC News Channel that the wrongdoer had emerged from the audience in a very black mask. A video denote on-line shows attendees dashing onto the stage immediately following the incident.
Media caption, Watch: From the scene wherever Salman Rushdie was attacked on stage Indian-born writer adult male Rushdie catapulted to fame with Midnight' youngsters in 1981, which went on to sell over a million copies within the UK alone. however his fourth book, in 1988 - The Satanic Verses - forced him into activity for 9 years.
The surrealist, post-modern novel sparked outrage among some Muslims, who thought of its content to be blasphemous, and was illegal in some countries. A year once the book' release, Iran' Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini necessitated adult male Rushdie' execution. He offered a $3m (£2.5m) reward in a very opinion - a legal decree issued by an monotheism non secular leader. The bounty over adult male Rushdie' head remains active, and though Iran' government has distanced itself from Khomeini' decree, a quasi-official Iranian non secular foundation supplemental an extra $500,000 to the reward in 2012
The British-American national - who was born to non-practising Muslims and is an atheist himself - has become a vocal advocate for freedom of expression, defensive his work on many occasions
The Satanic Verses was illegal 1st within the author' country of birth, India, so many alternative countries before Iran' Ayatollah Khomeini issued his notorious opinion.
The fatwa necessitated the killing of anyone involved in the publication of the book and offered rewards to people who took half within the murders. That opinion has ne'er formally been rescinded.