EL PAÍS offers the last hour of the attack on Salman Rushdie free of charge as a public service.
If you want to support our journalism, subscribe.
The main Iranian ultra-conservative newspaper,
Kayhan
, congratulated this Saturday Hadi Matar, the man who stabbed the writer Salman Rushdie this Friday, on whom a fatwa dictated by the Ayatollahs' regime weighed in 1989 for blasphemy for
The Satanic Verses
.
"Bravo for this brave and duty-conscious man who attacked the apostate and vicious Salman Rushdie", can be read in the newspaper whose head is appointed by the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
Rushdie's agent has reported that the writer is on a respirator after undergoing surgery.
"The news is not good," said the author's representative, who could lose an eye and has a damaged liver after being stabbed in the neck and abdomen.
The novelist was attacked during a conference in Chautauqua County, a town in western New York State.
The assailant, who has been identified by authorities as Hadi Matar, 24, has been arrested.
The White House has condemned the assault.
"He is horrible," said Joe Biden's security adviser, Jake Sullivan.
new posts
Writer Ian McEwan assures that Rushdie will not be intimidated by the attack
British novelist Ian McEwan, a close friend of writer Salman Rushdie, has assured that the author of
The Satanic Verses
will not be "intimidated" by the attack he suffered on Friday during a conference in New York.
"This appalling attack on my dear friend Salman represents an assault on freedom of thought and speech," McEwan said in a statement posted on his official website.
Rushdie, who is surviving on life support after being stabbed by a young man who assaulted him onstage, "is a fierce and generous spirit, a man of immense talent and courage, and he will not be intimidated," McEwan said.
The English author is one of the few people whom Rushdie continued to visit in secret during the decade in which he had to remain hidden, threatened with death after the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini put a price on his head in 1989, considering it blasphemous against the islam
The satanic verses
s.
"Salman has defended and inspired persecuted writers and journalists around the world," McEwan defended, stressing that freedom of thought and expression "support all our rights and freedoms."
(Eph)
09:59
copy link
Photo gallery |
The assassination attempt on Salman Rushdie, in pictures
The British writer and essayist was attacked this Friday when he was going to give a conference on freedom in artistic creation in Chautauqua County, a town in western New York State.
You can see the full photo gallery here
09:06
copy link
Macron: "Rushdie embodies freedom and the fight against obscurantism"
French President Emmanuel Macron wrote a message on his Twitter account condemning the attack "by the forces of hatred and barbarism" against Salman Rushdie.
Macron says in the message that the writer has embodied "freedom and the fight against obscurantism" for 33 years.
"His fight for him is our fight, it is universal. Now more than ever, we are at his side," the French president wrote.
08:10
copy link
Iranian Conservative Press Praises Rushdie's Aggressor
The main ultra-conservative Iranian daily,
Kayhan
, congratulated this Saturday Hadi Matar, the man who stabbed the writer Salman Rushdie this Friday, on whom a fatwa dictated by the Ayatollahs' regime weighed in 1989. "Bravo for this brave and aware of the duty that attacked the apostate and vicious Salman Rushdie", can be read in the newspaper whose head is appointed by the supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.
"Let us kiss the hand of the one who tore the neck of the enemy of God with a knife," the text continues.
Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and abdomen at a cultural center in Chautauqua, upstate New York.
Iranian authorities have so far not made an official statement on the assassination attempt on the 75-year-old intellectual.
Following the official line, all the Iranian media have labeled Mr. Rushdie an "apostate."
The
Iran
daily , a state newspaper, has said that "the devil's neck" has been "hit by a knife".
“I will not shed tears for a writer who denounces Muslims and Islam with infinite hatred and contempt,” Mohammad Marandi, a political analyst and professor at the University of Tehran, wrote in a tweet.
(AFP)
07:06
copy link
What is known about the attack so far
Writer Salman Rushdie was attacked while on his way to give a lecture in Chautauqua County, a town in western New York State.
After going on stage, a man pounced on him.
The assailant has also injured an interviewer.
The police, who arrested the attacker after the attack, announced in a statement that the writer had apparently suffered a stab wound to the neck and abdomen and was taken to hospital by helicopter.
The author remains connected to a respirator, after undergoing surgery and unable to speak.
“Salman will probably lose an eye;
the nerves in his arm were cut and his liver was damaged by the stab wounds, ”as explained by his agent.
The detainee is Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from the neighboring state of New Jersey, who bought a ticket for the conference like the rest of the 2,500 attendees, and whose motivations for the attack are unknown at the moment.
According to an employee of the cultural center where the attack took place, security is lax and, apparently, no additional measures were taken to protect the author of 'The Satanic Verses' (1988), and sentenced to death by the Iranian Islamic regime in 1989 for blasphemous.
05:16
copy link
"The attack on Salman Rushdie is appalling"
White House National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan said Friday night that "the attack on Salman Rushdie is appalling."
"We are all praying for his speedy recovery and are grateful to the good citizens and first responders for helping him so quickly," Sullivan wrote in a Twitter message.
The writer, wounded by at least one stab wound to the neck and another to the abdomen, is connected to a fan and, as reported by his representative, "he will probably lose an eye."
03:03
copy link
The image shows the moment of the arrest of the attacker of Salman Rushdie, a 24-year-old man identified by the New York State Police as Hadi Matar.
The assailant had a pass to attend the conference on freedom in artistic creation that the writer was going to offer this Friday in Chautauqua County.
(AP)
01:37
copy link
"One has to choose freedom"
Salman Rushdie offered a virtual conference on July 28 on the occasion of the Guadalajara World Book Capital events.
When asked about the threats received, the writer stated that "one has to opt for freedom."
"Literature can create beauty, joy and point out evil: the great concerns of human life. Literature tells us what it means to be human," he continued, as recalled this Friday by those responsible for the initiative of the Mexican city, which like the Guadalajara Book Fair (FIL) has strongly condemned the attack.
01:29
copy link
FBI Help
The New York State Police have contacted the FBI to try to determine the motives for the attack and the background of Salman Rushdie's assailant, according to testimony offered by a federal officer to
The New York Times.
The authorities at the moment have only released his name, Hadi Matar, and have reported that he is 24 years old and that his residence is set at Fairview, in the State of New Jersey.
24:59
copy link
The writer's agent assures that "the news is not good"
Salman Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wylie, stated at seven o'clock this Friday afternoon that the writer is connected to a respirator.
"The news is not good," he added in a statement.
"Salman will probably lose an eye; the nerves in his arm were cut and his liver was damaged from the stab wounds," he said.
(Reuters).
12 Aug 2022 - 23:20 UTC
copy link
First aid
The spokesman for the New Jersey Police has explained that Salman Rushdie first received assistance from a doctor who was among the audience at the conference and who also treated the speaker Henry Reese, who accompanied the writer at the event and who suffered injuries in the expensive, but he has already been discharged.
12 Aug 2022 - 22:04 UTC
copy link
"No indication" of the mobile
The spokesman for the New York State Police who appeared this Friday afternoon to report on the progress in the investigations into the attack on Salman Rushdie has assured that at the moment the motive for the attack is not known.
"We have no indication of the motive," the officer said before adding that Hadi Matar, the 24-year-old New Jersey man identified as the attacker, has stabbed the writer at least once in the neck and one in the abdomen.
Police have also indicated that Rushdie is still in surgery, but have not provided details on his condition.
(Eff).
12 Aug 2022 - 21:40 UTC
copy link
Police reveal the name of the attacker
The New York State Police have reported that Salman Rushdie's attacker is called Hadi Matar and initial investigations suggest that he acted alone.
The 24-year-old man had a pass to access the writer's event.
His last residence, the authorities have added, was set in Fairview, in the State of New Jersey.
(Reuters).
12 Aug 2022 - 21:16 UTC
copy link
These are the key events that have happened to date following Iran's death threat against writer Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie has lived for years under death threat from the Iranian Islamic regime which, in 1989, issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for his death for the publication of the novel
The Satanic Verses
.
The Iranian theocratic regime offered a reward of more than three million dollars to anyone who killed the writer.
The following are some key events that followed that death edict.
February 12, 1989: At least six people are killed in the Pakistani city of Islamabad in shootouts between police and gunmen in a crowd protesting the sale of the novel
The Satanic Verses
.
February 14, 1989: Khomeini issues the fatwa calling on all Muslims to kill Rushdie.
February 24, 1989: 12 people are killed in Bombay when police open fire on a crowd of 10,000 citizens demonstrating against Rushdie.
September 14, 1989: Four bombs are planted outside several UK bookstores owned by Penguin Random House, publisher of
The Satanic Verses
.
July 3, 1991: Ettore Capriolo, Italian translator of the book, is beaten and attacked with a knife in his Milan apartment by a man believed to be Iranian.
July 12, 1991: Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi is stabbed to death in Tokyo by a fleeing attacker.
September 7, 1995: After six years under police protection and living in safe houses, Rushdie appears in London in his first public appearance since the fatwa was issued.
February 12, 1997: Eight years after first posting a bounty, the bid on Rushdie's head is increased to $2.5 million.
September 22, 1998: Iranian President Mohammad Khatami says "the Rushdie affair is completely over."
September 24, 1998: Iranian Foreign Minister Kamal Kharrazi says Iran will not take any action to threaten Rushdie's life, nor will it encourage anyone to do so.
October 4, 1998: Some 160 members of the Iranian parliament say that the death decree against Rushdie is still valid.
October 10, 1998: A group of Iranian students sets a $333,000 bounty on Rushdie's head.
October 12, 1998: An Iranian religious foundation linked to the Iranian state increases its reward to $2.8 million.
September 16, 2012: Iranian religious foundation raises its bid to kill Rushdie to $3.3 million.
February 22, 2016: Iranian state media adds $600,000 to the reward for Rushdie's murder.
August 12, 2022: The writer is attacked onstage at a literary event in Chautauqua, western New York, and airlifted to a local hospital for treatment.
(Reuters)
12 Aug 2022 - 20:10 UTC
copy link
Analysis |
The long trail of blood from 'The Satanic Verses'
By Núria Barrios.
The writer Salman Rushdie was 42 when his novel The Satanic Verses found its way into the hands of the Iranian Ayatollah Khomeini.
The religious leader sentenced him to death for blasphemy, in 1989, in a fatwa that spread like wildfire among Muslims.
Rushdie was a well-known author having won the Booker Prize with a previous novel, Children of Midnight, but neither his prestige nor living in the UK, far from Iran, helped him.
To the fatwa was added a reward that exceeds three million dollars for the executor of the sentence.
The writer had to disappear into hiding, protected day and night by Scotland Yard, under the fictitious name of Joseph Anton, in homage to Conrad and Chekhov.
Read the full analysis here.
12 Aug 2022 - 19:34 UTC
copy link
Primeras imágenes del detenido por la agresión a Rushdie
Un equipo de agentes policiales ha detenido a un hombre fuera de la Institución Chautauqua, en el Estado de Nueva York. El sospechoso ha sido detenido acusado de apuñalar al escritor Salman Rushdie este viernes. Según la policía y los testigos que asistían a la conferencia, justo antes de que el escritor comenzara a hablar, un hombre se subió al escenario y abalanzó sobre él, hiriéndole en el cuello. También ha resultado herido uno de los entrevistadores que se encontraba junto a Rushdie en el escenario. (Charles Fox / AP)
12 Aug 2022 - 19:28 UTC
Copiar enlace
Escritores, editoriales y políticos muestran su conmoción por el ataque a Rushdie
Poco después de conocerse la noticia del ataque a Rushdie, las redes sociales han comenzado a reflejar la conmoción de la comunidad literaria ante la agresión. La organización sin ánimo de lucro de literatura y derechos humanos PEN International, de la que Rushdie fue presidente, ha publicado en su cuenta oficial de Twitter su consternación: "Estamos profundamente preocupados por la noticia de que el ex presidente de PEN América haya sido atacado hoy justo antes de dar una conferencia en la Institución Chautauqua en Nueva York. Condenamos el ataque y le deseamos una pronta recuperación".
La directora ejecutiva de PEN America, Suzanne Nossel, ha emitido un comunicado en el que cuenta que Rushdie le había enviado un correo electrónico antes de ser atacado. “PEN América se tambalea por la conmoción y el horror ante la noticia de un ataque brutal y premeditado", escribe Nossel. "Apenas unas horas antes, Salman me envió un correo electrónico para ayudarme con las ubicaciones de los escritores ucranios que necesitan un refugio seguro de los graves peligros que enfrentan. Nuestros pensamientos y pasiones ahora están con nuestro intrépido Salman, deseándole una recuperación completa y rápida. Esperamos y creemos fervientemente que su voz esencial no puede ni será silenciada”.
El escritor Ian McEwan también se ha pronunciado sobre la agresión: "Este espantoso ataque contra mi querido amigo Salman representa un asalto sobre la libertad de pensamiento y expresión. Estas son las libertades que sustentan todos nuestros derechos y libertades. Salman ha sido una fuente de inspiración defensor de los escritores y periodistas perseguidos en todo el mundo", ha escrito en un correo electrónico dirigido a The Guardian.
El primer ministro del Reino Unido, Boris Johnson, ha asegurado estar "horrorizado" por el apuñalamiento. "Horrorizado por (saber) que Sir Salman Rushdie ha sido apuñalado mientras ejercía un derecho que nunca deberíamos dejar de defender", ha tuiteado Johnson, en defensa de la libertad de expresión. (Agencias)
12 Aug 2022 - 19:16 UTC
Copiar enlace
Lo que se sabe del ataque hasta el momento
- El escritor Salman Rushdie ha sido atacado cuando iba a dar una conferencia en el condado de Chautauqua, una localidad en el oeste del Estado de Nueva York. Tras subir al escenario, un hombre se ha abalanzado sobre él y le ha apuñalado en el cuello, según ha confirmado la policía. El agresor también ha herido a un entrevistador.
El presunto atacante ha sido detenido, según ha comunicado la policía del Estado de Nueva York.
La gobernadora del Estado de Nueva York, Kathy Hochul, ha condenado el ataque y ha reconocido la labor de quienes atendieron a Rushdie en los primeros minutos tras la agresión. Hochul ha señalado que el escritor está “recibiendo la atención que necesita” en un hospital del área.
El agente de Rushdie ha comunicado que el escritor está siendo operado, aunque no ha dado detalles de la gravedad de las heridas.
Varios miembros de la comunidad literaria y personalidades de la política internacional han expresado indignación y preocupación por el ataque. (Agencias)
12 Aug 2022 - 18:51 UTC
Copiar enlace
Boris Johnson, "horrorizado" por el ataque contra Rushdie
El primer ministro del Reino Unido, Boris Johnson, ha asegurado estar "horrorizado" por el apuñalamiento del escritor británico Salman Rushdie. "Horrorizado por (saber) que Sir Salman Rushdie ha sido apuñalado mientras ejercía un derecho que nunca deberíamos dejar de defender", ha tuiteado Johnson. "Ahora mismo mis pensamientos están con sus seres queridos", señala. El libro de Rushdie Los versos satánicos está prohibido en Irán desde que se publicó, en 1988 por ser considerado blasfemo. Un año después, el difunto líder de Irán, el ayatolá Jomeini, emitió una fetua, o edicto, que pedía la muerte de Rushdie. Formado en el Reino Unido, Rushdie recibió el título de sir en 2007 —lo que desató de nuevo la ira de Irán, así como la de Pakistán— y vive en EE UU desde 2000. (Reuters)
12 Aug 2022 - 18:36 UTC
copy link
Rushdie's agent reports that the writer is undergoing surgery
The agent of writer Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed in the neck this Friday, has reported that the author is undergoing surgery.
Rushdie has been airlifted to hospital after being stabbed in the neck and abdomen while he was on his way to give a lecture in New York.
The police have reported that the attacker has been arrested.
(Reuters)
12 Aug 2022 - 18:20 UTC
copy link
12
See full direct
