Salman Rushdie's injuries 'severe' but condition 'heading in right direction' after horror New York stabbing

14 August 2022, 07:13 | Updated: 14 August 2022, 14:54

Author Sir Salman Rushdie's condition is "heading in the right direction" but his injuries remain "severe", his agent has said, after he was tragically stabbed on stage in New York.

The Satanic Verses author, who was stabbed around 12 times in the face and neck on Friday, needed surgery to treat a punctured eye and liver.

The 75-year-old's agent Andrew Wylie said in an update on Sunday: "He's off the ventilator, so the road to recovery has begun.

"It will be long; the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction," Sky News quoted the agent as saying.

The Indian-born Briton, whose novel The Satanic Verses led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, 65 miles from Buffalo in New York state, when he was attacked.

Shocking footage from the event shows members of the audience leaping onto the stage to help the novelist in the wake of the attack.

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

Read more: Salman Rushdie stabbing should be a 'wake up call for the West' says Sunak, as he calls for sanctions on Iran

Salman Rushdie's suspected attacker named as 24-year-old Hadi Matar

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

The man accused of stabbing Sir Salman pleaded not guilty on Saturday to charges of attempted murder and assault, in what a prosecutor called a "pre-planned" attack.

A lawyer for Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, entered the plea on his behalf during a formal hearing at a court in western New York.

Matar appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white face mask, with his hands cuffed in front of him.

A judge ordered him to be held without bail after district attorney Jason Schmidt told her Matar took steps to purposely put himself in a position to harm Sir Salman, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early with a fake ID.

"This was a targeted, unprovoked, pre-planned attack on Mr Rushdie," Mr Schmidt said.

Public defender Nathaniel Barone said the authorities had taken too long to get Matar in front of a judge, while leaving him "hooked up to a bench at the state police barracks".

"He has that constitutional right of presumed innocence," Mr Barone added.

Henry Reese, who had been due to interview Sir Salman at the event, suffered a minor head injury. He is the co-founder of a non-profit organisation that provides sanctuary to writers exiled under threat of persecution.

Before the attack, Sir Salman was about to give a speech about how the US has served as a haven for such writers.

The novelist was forced into hiding for nearly 10 years after The Satanic Verses - which has been banned in Iran since it was published in 1988 as many Muslims consider it blasphemous.

Lisa Appignanesi, writer and friend of Salman Rushdie, speaks to LBC

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

Iran welcomed the attack on Sir Salman, with The Khorasan newspaper printing a headline which read 'Satan on the way to hell' and the country’s state broadcaster called him a "heretic".

Rishi Sunak has warned the stabbing should act as a "wake-up call for the West" as he called for tougher sanctions following Iran’s response.

The Tory leadership hopeful said described the situation in Iran as "extremely serious" and called for an urgent "strengthened deal and much tougher sanctions".

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."

Labour Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said: "Salman Rushdie has long embodied the struggle for liberty and freedom against those who seek to destroy them.

"This cowardly attack on him yesterday is an attack on those values. The whole Labour Party is praying for his full recovery."

Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnight's Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981.

The author lived in hiding for many years in London under a British government protection programme after the fatwa.

In 1998, the Iranian government withdrew its support for the death sentence and Sir Salman gradually returned to public life, even appearing as himself in the 2001 film Bridget Jones's Diary.

The Index on Censorship, an organisation promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for Sir Salman's killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa still stands.

He was knighted in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours.