Author Salman Rushdie, whose writing invited demise threats from Iran within the Nineteen Eighties, was attacked Friday as he was about to ship a lecture at Chautauqua Institution in western New York.
According to an AP reporter, who witnessed the incident firsthand, mentioned a person stormed the stage and commenced punching or stabbing Rushdie whereas the author was being launched. The creator apparently was pushed or fell on the ground, and the attacker was detained. Rushdie was airlifted to a hospital, information company AP reported.
Rushdie, an Indian-born novelist, gained prominence along with his 1981 novel ‘Midnight’s Children’, which was awarded the Booker Prize — the world’s most prestigious literary award — the identical yr. It was additionally awarded Best of the Bookers twice as one of the best novel to have received Booker prize throughout its first 25 and 40 years, respectively in 1993 and 2008.
However, Rushdie turned identified all over the world along with his e-book ‘The Satanic Verses’ that bumped into controversy within the Islamic nations instantly after its publication in 1988 due to its alleged disdainful depiction of Prophet Muhammad. With many Muslims contemplating the textual content ‘blasphemous’, the e-book has been banned in Iran ever since. Iran’s late chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa (edict) in 1989 calling for Rushdie’s demise. A bounty of quantity over $3 million has additionally been in provide for anybody who kills Rushdie.
Even as Iran’s authorities distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, anti-Rushdie sentiment has continued to prevail within the nation.
A semi-official spiritual group — 15 Khordad Foundation — in Iran raised the bounty for Rushdie from an preliminary $2.8 million to $3.3 million, The Guardian reported.
Dismissing the risk on the time, Rushdie mentioned there was “no evidence” of individuals being within the reward. While talking on BBC Radio 4, he had defended his e-book saying: “It’s not true that this book is a blasphemy against Islam. I doubt very much that Khomeini or anyone else in Iran has read the book or more than selected extracts out of context.”
That yr, Rushdie printed , ‘Joseph Anton’, a memoir concerning the fatwa.
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With inputs from TheIndianEXPRESS
