Salman Rushdie fights for his life

RENOWNED novelist Salman Rushdie remained on a ventilator following hours of surgery after he was stabbed by an alleged religious fanatic just before he could deliver his speech at the Chautauqua Institution in New York yesterday.

His agent said his liver and some of the nerves in one of his arms were severely damaged and that he would most likely lose an eye.

The Indian-born British American, 75, had been receiving death threats and had arranged for police to be present at the venue.

However, the suspect, 24-year-old Hadi Matar, from New Jersey, was able to run to the stage and attack the author.

Eyewitnesses said as Rushdie was being introduced to the audience, Matar charged towards him and inflicted at least eight stab wounds before he was restrained by guests. The venue was filled with screams and cries as the attack happened.

Rushdie, known to be a critic of religion and leaders who use religion for political gain and had been at risk from extremists who backed such leaders.

The author went into hiding in 1988 under UK police protection when the late Iran supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for his murder over his novel, The Satanic Verses, deemed blasphemous by some Muslims. The book was banned in Iran and in other countries.

In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation which had offered R45 million rand for the killing of Rushdie increased the amount to R53m.

In a memoir published under a pseudonym Joseph Anton, detailing his time in hiding, Rushdie expressed discomfort at the high levels of security at US airports whenever he arrived to speak.

But in recent years, he had lived more freely and had insisted that he should not be constantly surveilled and protected by security guards. A few weeks ago Rushdie said his life was now relatively normal.

Some Iranians have reacted with praise to the news of the brutal attack saying it was the fate of those who insulted Islam.