Hawzah News Agency- Salman Rushdie has been taken to hospital after being attacked on stage at an event in New York.
Rushdie suffered “an apparent stab wound to the neck” according to a statement released shortly after the incident by state police. His interviewer also suffered a minor head injury, police said.
Rushdie is an Indian-born, British Booker prize-winning author. He has written 14 novels, but is best known for his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses. In 2007, Rushdie was knighted for his services to literature. He has been living in the US since 2000.
The Satanic Verses caused major controversy as some Muslims accused the text of blasphemy and of mocking Islam. It sparked a series of protests across the UK attended by thousands of British Muslims, many of which involved publicly burning the book.
A year later, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini banned the book in Iran, and issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
It said: “I inform all zealous Muslims of the world that the author of the book entitled The Satanic Verses – which has been compiled, printed and published in opposition to Islam, the Prophet, and the Qur’an – and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death.
“I call on all zealous Muslims to execute them quickly, wherever they may be found, so that no one else will dare to insult the Muslim sanctities. God Willing, whoever is killed on this path is a martyr.”
The book has been banned in India, Pakistan, Bangladesh, Sudan, South Africa, Sri Lanka, Kenya, Thailand, Tanzania, Indonesia, Singapore, Venezuela.