Sun 14 August 2022:
US President Joe Biden has condemned the “vicious attack” on famed author Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed with a knife on a lecture stage in New York.
Biden expressed his solidarity with Rushdie and “all those who stand for freedom of expression,” hailing the Indian-born author as advocating “for essential, universal ideals.”
“Jill and I were shocked and saddened to learn of the vicious attack on Salman Rushdie yesterday in New York,” Biden said in a statement released by the White House.
“We, together with all Americans and people around the world, are praying for his health and recovery. I am grateful to the first responders and the brave individuals who jumped into action to render aid to Rushdie and subdue the attacker.”
Rushdie, whose book ‘Satanic Verses’ drew wide condemnation from Muslim countries, had been in the underground after a fatwa was issued by Iran’s late leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued in 1989, calling for his death.
After living under police protection, Rushdie had been living openly in New York.
On Friday, the Man Booker Prize award winner was attacked by a New Jersey resident, 24-year-old Hadi Matar. He is currently hospitalised with a damaged liver, severed nerves in his arm and at the risk of losing an eye. He has since been taken off the ventilator.
Matar has been charged with attempted murder as well as assault on a man who was sharing the stage with Rushdie. He has pleaded not guilty and is being held without bail.
Although the motivation for Matar’s desire to have Rushdie killed is unknown, the New York district attorney said that the ferocious attack was primarily motivated by a fatwa during a preliminary court hearing on Saturday.
The Guardian claims that Matar’s social media activity revealed admiration for both the Iranian government and Islamic militancy.
Though by 2005, the Iranian government distanced itself from the fatwa, Rushdie was still under the radar of religious extremists who reportedly have placed a bounty which in recent years increased to more than $3m.
SOURCE: INDEPENDENT PRESS AND NEWS AGENCIES
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