Rushdie stabbed in New York state at event on asylum for writers
Darpan News Desk IANS, 12 Aug, 2022 10:46 AM
New York, Aug 12 (IANS) Author Salman Rushdie, who has a multi-million-dollar bounty on his head, was stabbed on Friday while he was on stage readying to speak at an event in New York State on the US as the home of creative expression.
State Police said Rushdie, who appeared to have been stabbed in his neck, was flown by helicopter to a hospital from the remote education and spiritual centre in Chautauqua about 550 km from New York City, but did not disclose his condition.
The alleged assailant, who pushed him to the floor and attacked him, was taken into custody by a state police trooper who was there, police said.
The attacker's identity was not immediately known.
An eyewitness told the Daily Beast that the attacker was "heavy set and wearing a black headpiece".
The witness, Ward Pautler, said that he thought the attacker was "punching Rushdie, but then I realised he was stabbing him".
Ironically, Rushdie was participating at the Chautauqua Institution in a "discussion of the United States as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression", according to the organisation's website.
Following the publication in 1989 of his novel, "Satanic Verses", which some Muslims considered blasphemous, the then Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death.
Various Iranian organisations put rewards of more than $3 million for killing the 75-year-old India-born writer.
Rushdie went underground with British government protection for several years and moved to the US in 2000 and has since been in public.
He escaped an assassination attempt in 1989 when a bomb went off at a London hotel where he was thought to be staying and demolished two floors of the building.
The Mujahidin of Islam group claimed responsibility for the attack.
Al Qaeda also put him on its hit list along with several literary and media figures it claimed insulted Islam.
In the same breath, however, the speech marking Biden's first 100 days as commander-in-chief offered a measure of comfort by suggesting Buy American would not offend the terms of trade deals like the U.S.-Mexico-Canada Agreement.
So far, Pfizer's ongoing trial indicates the company's two-dose vaccine remains highly effective for at least six months, and likely longer. People who got Moderna’s vaccine also still had notable levels of virus-fighting antibodies six months after the second required shot.
Attorney General Merrick Garland says the investigation will look into the department's use of force and whether it engaged in discriminatory practices.
Police did not release the names of those who were injured and taken to hospital. The Sikh Coalition and the Sikh Community reeling from the loss of their loved ones and sharing their grief condemning this senseless act of violence over social media posts.
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