Salman Rushdie Off Ventilator, Accused Pleads “Not Guilty”

Mr. Salman Rushdie was stabbed, in the neck and abdomen around 10 times, prosecutors said during the arraignment of Hadi Matar in a New York court.  A preliminary review of Matar’s social media showed him to be sympathetic to “Shia extremism” and the causes of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).

New York: After being stabbed at a literary event in New York, Author Salman Rushdie was taken off the ventilator last night as he remained hospitalized with serious injuries, cites reports.

According to the Washington Post reports, the president of Chautauqua Institution, where the author, was attacked, said in a tweet that Salman Rushdie has been taken off the ventilator and was talking. Mr. Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, also confirmed the development.

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Hadi Matar, the 24-year-old man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges in what a prosecutor called a “preplanned” crime.

Mr. Salman Rushdie was stabbed, in the neck and abdomen around 10 times, prosecutors said during the arraignment of Hadi Matar in a New York court.  A preliminary review of Matar’s social media showed him to be sympathetic to “Shia extremism” and the causes of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).

According to Witnesses, Mr. Rushdie was about to speak at the event when the suspect rushed onstage and stabbed him before being wrestled to the ground by staff and other people in the audience. The interviewer, Ralph Henry Reese, also suffered a facial injury in the attack but has been released from the hospital, the police stated.

Mr. Rushdie had to be airlifted to the hospital where he underwent emergency surgery. He might lose an eye and the nerves in one of his arms were severed and his liver was damaged, his agent said.

US President Joe Biden condemned the “vicious attack” and said the writer stands for essential and universal ideals — truth, courage, and resilience. “I am grateful to the first responders and the brave individuals who jumped into action to render aid to Rushdie and subdue the attacker.”

Former British Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled,” while Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau called the attack “reprehensible” and “cowardly.”

The 75-year-old author was propelled into the spotlight with his second novel “Midnight’s Children” in 1981, which won international praise and Britain’s prestigious Booker Prize.

His 1988 book “The Satanic Verses” was considered by some Muslims as disrespectful of Islam and the Prophet Mohammad. The novel led to a fatwa, a religious decree, by Iran’s first supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. The threat forced him into hiding for several years, reported NDTV.

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