His accused assailant has plead not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges.
Author Salman Rushdie has been taken off a ventilator and is able to speak following a brutal assault in New York on Friday (12 August).
His agent Andrew Wylie confirmed the news to the Washington Post on Saturday.
The man identified at the scene, Hadi Matar, has plead not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault.
New York State Police (NYSP) arrested Matar at the scene following the attack.
“On 12 August, 2022, at about 10.47 a.m., a male suspect later identified as Hadi Matar, 24 of Fairview, NJ ran up onto the stage and attacked Salman Rushdie, 75,” NYSP said.
“Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck and chest and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital.
“The other speaker at the event Ralph Henry Reese, 73 suffered a minor head injury. Staff members of the Chautauqua Institution and guests went on stage to assist in holding down the suspect.
“A State Trooper assigned to the event was next to the stage and took the suspect into custody. The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene assisted shortly after.”
There is no update on the condition of Rushdie’s eye, which Wylie said he likely would lose due to his injuries.
“Salman will likely lose one eye. The nerves in his arm were severed and his liver was stabbed and damaged,” he stated.
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 Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death.
Rushdie was born in India before later moving to Britain.
In 1981, he won the Booker Prize, cementing him as one of the most respected writers of his era.
LISTEN: You Must Be Jokin’ with Aideen McQueen – Faith healers, Coolock craic and Gigging as Gaeilge
