Enlarge image
Photo: CHARLY TRIBALLEAU / AFP
Although he was sentenced to death by fatwa more than 30 years ago, according to his publisher, Salman Rushdie actually felt safer again.
Now the award-winning author has been attacked on the open stage.
The act sparked global outrage.
New York Gov. Kathy Hochul called the attack on Rushdie a "horrific event" and tweeted her condolences to "Salman and his loved ones."
Her colleague Chuck Schumer wrote: "This attack is shocking and appalling.
It is an attack on freedom of speech and thought.”
British Prime Minister Boris Johnson is "appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed while exercising a right we should never stop defending."
The US authors' association PEN America was also shocked after the attack on its former president and author Salman Rushdie.
"We can think of no comparable case of a public violent attack on a writer on American soil," said Suzanne Nossel, Chair of the Association, in a statement.
Salman Rushdie has been attacked for his words for decades, but he has never been swayed and never hesitated, Nossel continued.
He worked tirelessly to help others who are vulnerable and threatened.
PEN International said it was "deeply concerned": "We condemn the attack and wish him a speedy recovery." PEN Berlin wrote: "We are appalled by the attack on Salman Rushdie.
Our thoughts are with him and his family.«
“I was horrified to learn that Salman Rushdie was assaulted at an event in upstate New York.
We wish him a speedy recovery,” Indian writer Amitav Ghosh tweeted.
'I'm really shocked.
I never thought something like this would happen,” wrote author Taslima Nasreen, who fled her native Bangladesh after a court found that her novel Lajja (“Shame”) explored the religious feelings of the had hurt Muslims.
'He's lived in the West and has been protected since 1989.
If he is attacked, anyone who is critical of Islam can be attacked.
I am anxious."
sak/Reuters