The British novelist of Indian origin and Booker Prize winner, Salman Rushdie, was assaulted by an assailant as he was delivering a speech in New York. The attacker delivered several blows to the writer before he was apprehended.
The video of the incident has emerged online:
Witnesses cited by the Associated Press claim that the attacker rushed onto the scene and started dealing blows to the author either barehanded or with a knife. The writer reportedly fell to the floor under the barrage of blows, but after being given first aid managed to get up.
An update provided by law enforcement late Friday identified the suspect as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old who officials believe acted alone. No charges or motive have yet been determined by investigators.
Police said that Rushdie had been stabbed at least once in the neck and the abdomen, adding that he remains in surgery. They did not provide further details on his condition.
Officials are presently trying to obtain search warrants for a backpack and electronics that were recovered from the crime scene.
"The news is not good," Andrew Wylie, the author's agent, told the New York Times, detailing that Rushdie might lose an eye and that he had sustained serious damage to his liver.
Rushdie infuriated many Muslims around the world with his 1988 book 'The Satanic Verses', which is perceived as being anti-Islamic and blasphemous. Iran's late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued an edict calling for the writer's murder. Years later, semi-official Iranian religious group 15-Khordad Foundation placed a bounty on Rushdie's head of $2.8 million. It was later ramped up to $3.3 million.
The threats made the author go into hiding for years even though he dismissed the bounty on his head, claiming no one was interested in it. Nonetheless, his public appearances were rare.