Salman Rushdie underwent emergency surgery after being stabbed at an event in New York state, this Friday (12). Andrew Wylie, the writer's manager, reported that Rushdie was taken by helicopter to the hospital and operated on, promegetting more updates on his health status.
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According to the police, at around 12 noon in Brasília, “the suspect ran to the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer.” The writer “was stabbed in the neck” and the interviewer who was next to him suffered a head injury, he added.
Reports from other witnesses state that the writer received 10 to 15 blows, as reported in the newspaper The Globe.
Videos on networks
Quickly after the attack, several videos, made by spectators of the event where the writer was stabbed, began to be released on the internet:
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Images of Rushdie being taken to the helicopter also became public:
The perpetrator of the attack – a white man with shaved hair, wearing camouflage clothing under a black coat – was quickly detained by a New York state police officer and is in custody.
Carl LeVan, a political science professor who was in the room, told AFP by phone that a man threw himself onto the stage and, while Rushdie was sitting, “stabbed him vigorously several times” and “tried to kill him.”
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Pursued
The 75-year-old writer became a target of extremists after publishing his second novel “Midnight's Children” in 1981, which received international acclaim and the UK's prestigious Booker Prize for its portrayal of post-independence India.
But it was “The Satanic Verses”, from 1988, that made the biggest impact by provoking a fatwa – a kind of religious decree – from Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to assassinate him.
The novel was considered by some Muslims to be disrespectful to religion.
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Why?
The book “The Satanic Verses”, Published in Brazil by Companhia das Letras, it was especially controversial for having a character inspired by the prophet Muhammad. In addition to being bold in choosing the protagonist, Rushdie's critics say he portrayed the most important figure for Islam in an offensive way, especially for leaders of the Muslim community.
A decade hidden
Rushdie, born in Bombay to a family of non-practicing Muslims and an avowed atheist, was forced to live in hiding while a bounty was placed on his head. Reward still valid.
The UK government guaranteed the writer police protection after assassination attempts against his translators and editors. The writer spent nearly a decade in hiding, moving house repeatedly and unable to tell his children where he lived. He only began to leave his life as a fugitive in the late 1990s, after Iran's government said it would not support his assassination.
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Currently, Rushdie lives in New York and is a strong supporter of freedom of expression.
Essential voice
Threats and boycotts persist against literary events that Rushdie participates.
the books of Rushdie have been translated into more than 40 languages and his novel “Midnight’s Children”, with more than 600 pages, has been adapted for stage and screen.
Suzanne Nossel, director in the United States of the organization PEN, which defends freedom of expression, highlighted support for the “intrepid Salman“, wishing him “a complete and speedy recovery”.
“Just hours before the attack, on Friday morning, Salman emailed me to help with locating Ukrainian writers who need refuge from the grave dangers they face,” Nossel said in a statement.
“Your essential voice cannot and will not be silenced,” he added.
Source: AFP
