Rushdie battles for life, placed on ventilator, liver damaged

Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie

Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed on Friday in New York, is currently battling for life as he has been placed on a ventilator.

Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses, was stabbed in the neck at a literary event in upstate New York Friday.

The assailant stormed the stage soon after his introduction.

The man proceeded to stab Rushdie, who was scheduled to talk at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y., some 75 miles south of Buffalo.

Police detained a suspect named as Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey.

Rushdie’s agent, Andrew Wylie, said “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”

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Earlier, the suspect Matar from New Jersey, was said to have accessed the grounds the way any other event goer did.

The suspect jumped on stage, stabbed Rushdie in the neck at least once and in the abdomen at least once, police said.

People in the centre rushed the suspect and took him ground, and he was later taken into police custody.

Rushdie was said to have been struck many times in the neck and torso area, while Henry Reese, the founder of a non-profit organisation which protects persecuted writers, received minor head injuries.

New York State Governor Kathy Hochul had confirmed that Rushdie was still alive after being stabbed in the neck.

She said Rushdie was getting the care he needed after being taken to hospital.

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