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12th Aug 2022

Author Salman Rushdie reportedly stabbed on stage during event in New York

Charlie Herbert

He was due to give a speech at the event.

Salman Rushdie has reportedly been stabbed on stage in New York.

Witnesses have stated the award-winning author was attacked whilst at an event at the Chautauqua Institution where he was due to give a speech.

The attacker is said to have been restrained by those at the scene, according to BBC, who also report that Rushdie’s condition is not currently known.

Following the release of his controversial novel The Satanic Verses, Rushdie had been the target of death threats from Iran in the 1980s.

The book was banned in the country as it was considered blasphemous by many Muslims and in 1989, the year after its publication, the country’s leader at the time issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death.

The 75-year-old was born in India before later moving to Britain.

In 1981, he won the Booker Prize, cementing himself as one of the most respected writers of his era.

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