Salman Rushdie, an Indian-born writer who's so-called "irreverent" depictions of Muhammad in his work drew the ire of the Islamic world, was attacked while on stage before delivering a lecture in New York on Friday morning.
UPDATE: According to Associated Press reports, Rushdie was stabbed in the neck by a man who rushed the stage and began "punching or stabbing him 10-15 times while he was being introduced" before Rushdie fell to the floor and onlookers began delivering aid while the suspect was grabbed and arrested by police.
A state police source quoted by AP said that Rushdie was airlifted to a hospital and his condition remains unknown.
BREAKING: Author Salman Rushdie, the subject of an ongoing fatwa from Iran over his book Satanic Verses, sparking many death threats over the years, has been stabbed on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in New York State. pic.twitter.com/wLEWkA3xC1
— Piers Morgan (@piersmorgan) August 12, 2022
Salman Rushdie was just stabbed - there’s been a fatwa on him from the Ayatollah of Iran since 1989. Comes right after the arrest of someone Iran paid $300k to kill John Bolton and the threats to Masih Alinejad in Brooklyn. I’m going to say it’s not a coincidence.
— Lahav Harkov (@LahavHarkov) August 12, 2022
As The AP reported Friday morning:
An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced. The 75-year-old author was pushed or fell to the floor, and the man was restrained.
Rushdie was quickly surrounded by a small group of people who held up his legs, presumably to send more blood to his chest.
In the wake of Rushdie's 1988 publication of "The Satanic Verses," then-Supreme Leader of Iran Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa for Rushdie's execution in 1989. Despite the bounty on his head, Rushdie stood by his work and, given the radical reaction, noted "Frankly, I wish I had written a more critical book."
Retailers selling Rushdie's "Verse" were firebombed, residents of muslim nations held public book burnings, and some who were involved in translating or propagating the literary work were attacked or killed. A 1989 attempted assassination attempt on Rushdie in London failed when the bomb detonated prematurely, killing the would-be assassin and destroying portions of the hotel in which he was priming the device.
Iran's subsequent leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, again validated the fatwa against Rushdie in 2005, and additional threats have since been issued by the Al Qaeda and Hezbollah terror groups.
Former State Department Spokeswoman Morgan Ortagus pointed out that a DOJ complaint unsealed this week showed Iran's recent plots to assassinate Trump Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and National Security Advisor John Bolton on U.S. soil — an escalation in the regime's brazenness:
We don’t yet know if Iran is behind this attack, but they certainly have been brazen lately about trying to kill people on US soil. https://t.co/6QnZTYIpFU
— Morgan Ortagus (@MorganOrtagus) August 12, 2022
Others highlighted the absurdity of the Biden administration's attempts to mollify Iran with a return to a revived iteration of the previously revoked Joint Comprehensive Plan of Action:
The fatwa against Rushdie has never been revoked. If this is tied to Iran, it demonstrates once again that American attempts to woo the ayatollahs are an act of supreme idiocy. https://t.co/te8Ky2Jlrf
— Ben Shapiro (@benshapiro) August 12, 2022
This is a developing story and may be updated.