Police identify suspect after Salman Rushdie stabbed in the neck and abdomen while on stage at New York event

12 August 2022, 16:15 | Updated: 12 August 2022, 22:43

Police have identified the suspect behind an attack on author Sir Salman Rushdie, who was airlifted to hospital after being stabbed in the neck and abdomen ahead of an event in upstate New York.

Footage circulated online shows the author receiving emergency treatment after he was attacked at an event for the Chautauqua Institution, a gathering of the arts and humanities in Chautauqua, near Buffalo.

New York State police said in a statement after the attack: “A male suspect ran up onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer.

“Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital.

“His condition is not yet known.

“The interviewer suffered a minor head injury.”

The suspect has been named by police as 24-year-old Hadi Matar from New Jersey.

In a press conference held in Jamestown, New York, police officials alleged the suspect jumped on stage and stabbed the writer at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen.

The 75-year-old Indian-born British author is still currently undergoing surgery, police confirmed.

Rushdie was at the event for a discussion of the United States as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression.

He was subjected to a fatwa and years of death threats after writing The Satanic Verses. In 1989 the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie.

He was attacked as he was preparing to deliver a lecture at the event.

A man stormed the stage and ‘began punching or stabbing Rushdie while he was being introduced’ to the audience, according to a reporter for AP who was at the event. It was later confirmed he had been stabbed multiple times, including once in the neck.

New York governor Kathy Hochul told a press conference that a state police officer saved his life and that of the moderator, who she said was also attacked.

She said he is "getting the care he needs at a local hospital".

She added: "He is alive, he has been airlifted to safety. But here is an individual who has spent decades speaking truth to power, someone who's been out there unafraid, despite the threats that have followed him his entire adult life."

Witnesses said he was able to walk off stage with assistance. Blood was spattered on a wall behind where Rushdie had been sitting and some blood was also on a chair.

A man, thought to be the attacker, was restrained at the scene and later led away by police.

Rushdie's book, The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988 as many Muslims consider it blasphemous.

A bounty of over $3m had also been offered for anyone who kills him.

Iran’s current government has distanced itself from the fatwa and threats of violence against him but he still faces widespread anger over his writing.

One fan of the author wrote online: "Horrible to see these updates about the legendary writer Salman Rushdie, who's had a fatwa against him since 1989 for The Satanic Verses. His book Imaginary Homelands remains one of my favourite collection of essays. Hope he recovers from this."

Boris Johnson said: "Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend.

"Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is okay."

Rushdie spent a decade with police protection after the fatwa was issued against him and had previously said he received a ‘sort of Valentines card’ from Iran each year letting him know the country has not forgotten its vow.

The fatwa has led to the deaths of dozens of people.

Hitoshi Igarashi, who translated The Satanic Verses into Japanese for Rushdie, was stabbed to death on the campus where he taught literature. 

Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator of the book, was knifed in his apartment in Milan. 

The novel’s Norwegian publisher William Nygaard, was shot three times outside his home and left for dead in October 1993,  but survived the attack. 

In Turkey, the book’s translator, Aziz Nesin, was the target of an arson attack on a hotel that killed 37.