By BOOM Team
Salman Rushdie, the booker prize-winning author who was attacked in New York on Friday, is said to be not doing so well. He has been put on a ventilator after he was been stabbed multiple times by a man called Hamid Matar during a literary event in New York.
Here's what we know so far:
Health status
Andrew Wylie, the author's agent, told the media on Friday, "The news is not good." The New York Timesreported that Rushdie might lose an eye and his liver has been damaged because of the attack.
The attack also left several nerves on Rushdie's arms damaged, which is likely to affect the functioning of his arm. The author is on a ventilator and was also unable to speak because of the attack.
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Cops probe incident, involve FBI
While the police are still not sure about the motive with which the 24-year-old man attacked Rushdie, The New York Times reported that they have reached out to the FBI for help. This is to identify the motives of the suspect and their background.
The moderator of the event, Ralph Henry Reese, was injured in his face during the attack. After release from the hospital, he told The New York Timses, "The fact that this attack could occur in the United States is indicative of the threats to writers from many governments and from many individuals and organizations."
The police have said that they did not have any indication of a threat to Rushdie's life before the event. BBC Newsreported that Matar went to the event alone, jumped on stage and stabbed Rushdie in his neck and abdomen. The police have said that Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey.
The suspect was taken into police custody right after the incident after he was caught by people who were attending the incident and taken to the ground.
Eyewitness accounts
Eyewitnesses said there was a collective gasp from the audience when the attack was happening along with a scene of confusion. Mary Newsom, who was attending the event, told the BBC that there was no security around the author, and that when they were entering the event, tickets were checked but not bags.
A video captured by an eyewitness and tweeted by Reuters showed people rushing to the stage and others at the back standing up to see what happened.
Julia Mineeva Braun, another witness to the incident, said that the attacker approached the author from the left, dressed in all black. Sky News quoted Braun as saying, "It was very quick... we thought he was fixing his microphone, and then we saw the knife. He started stabbing him in the neck first… and Mr Rushdie got up and started running. We're still in shock."
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Years of threats
Rushdie has been facing death threats for years because of his writing. Books like Midnight's Children and The Satanic Verses have triggered violent reactions from various quarters. Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini declared a fatwa against him in 1989 because The Satanic Verses was viewed as blasphemous and insulting to Prophet Mohammed.
