Salman Rushdie on the ground after the assault in New York simply as he was to ship a lecture.
New York:
Creator Salman Rushdie was stabbed within the neck at an occasion in New York, US, on Friday. Particulars had been scarce about his situation and the attacker, who has been detained. The 75-year-old writer’s writings have previously led to threats.
Following are the highest developments on this massive story:
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The New York State Police confirmed the stabbing and stated he was taken to an space hospital by helicopter. The attacker is in custody, police stated. Social media posts confirmed individuals dashing to his assist on stage at Chautauqua Establishment, 90 km from town. An individual interviewing suffered minor head accidents within the assault. Some images confirmed blood on a board on the stage.
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Mr Rushdie fell to the ground instantly after the assault, and the attacker was restrained. A small group of individuals surrounded the writer, holding up his legs, presumably to ship extra blood to his chest, AP reported. A whole bunch of individuals within the viewers gasped on the sight of the assault and had been then evacuated.
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The assault occurred round 11 am native time (8.30 pm IST) as Mr Rushdie was being launched earlier than he was to talk. The Chautauqua Establishment, positioned in a rural a part of New York, is understood for its summertime lecture collection. Mr Rushdie has spoken there earlier than.
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Delhi-based British author William Dalrymple was among the many first to react, hoping that Mr Rushdie wasn’t harm. “A horrible day for literature, for freedom of speech and for authors all over the place. Poor poor Salman: I pray he isn’t harm and recovers rapidly,” he tweeted.
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Mr Rushdie, 75, confronted threats significantly within the late Eighties over his ebook, The Satanic Verses, which is banned in Iran since 1988 as it’s alleged to be blasphemous in direction of Islam. There was additionally a reward out on his head by the Iranian prime chief, although by 1998 the Iranian authorities stated it wasn’t searching for to implement that ‘fatwa’ or edict. It wasn’t clear if the assault is linked to that.
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A British citizen of Indian origin, Mr Rushdie has lived within the US for the previous 20 years.
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His first novel got here out in 1975, however certainly one of his seminal works is about fashionable India, Midnight’s Youngsters (1981), for which he received the Booker Prize.
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After the controversy over his fourth ebook, The Satanic Verses (1988), he remained out of the general public eye. However, regardless of the threats, he produced a number of novels all through the Nineteen Nineties.
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In 2007, he was knighted — given the ceremonial title of ‘Sir’ — by Queen Elizabeth II for providers to literature. He has produced over a dozen works, together with non-fiction.
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In 2012, after an Iranian non secular outfit renewed the bounty on him, he dismissed that risk, saying there was “no proof” of individuals being within the reward, stated the AP report. That 12 months, he revealed a memoir, Joseph Anton, concerning the fatwa. The title got here from the pseudonym he had used whereas in hiding.