Salman Rushdie remains hospitalised after stabbing; venue security is questioned

Salman Rushdie was stabbed

Two CNN sources said the venue where Salman Rushdie was stabbed had rejected earlier security advice. Rushdie, 75, was stabbed twice before a talk at Chautauqua Institution, police said. Police said he was transported to a hospital in northwest Pennsylvania for surgery.

Andrew Wylie

His agent, Andrew Wylie, informed The New York Times that Rushdie was put on a ventilator and unable to talk. Wylie predicted he'd lose an eye. "His liver was punctured and his arm nerves severed. Unfavorable news." State police arrested a suspect shortly afterward and are determining motivation and charges. After the attack, questions were raised about the security arrangements at the host institution, which is 70 miles south of Buffalo, New York.

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The institution's leadership

The institution's leadership rejected requests for basic security measures, including bag checks and metal detectors, two Media sources said. Sources say leadership feared it would change the institution's culture. Two sources with intimate knowledge of Chautauqua Institution security and past recommendations spoke on condition of anonymity to Media. As of Friday evening, it's unknown if the recommended steps would have stopped Rushdie's attack. Authorities haven't said what weapon was used.

Chautauqua Institution

A witness to the attack told Media there were no security checks or metal detectors. The witness requested anonymity due to safety concerns. Media contacted the Chautauqua Institution for comment but didn't hear back Friday. Friday at a news conference, institution president Michael Hill defended his organization's security plans.

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Rushdie's 1981 book

"We analyze for every event what we think the right security level is, and this one was essential," Hill said. We cooperate with local law enforcement to determine the proper level of security for each event at the institution. Henry Reese, the co-founder of Pittsburgh's City of Asylum, was also hurt, authorities said. He was treated for a facial injury and released. Midnight's Children, Rushdie's 1981 book, won the Booker Prize. "The Satanic Verses" garnered the most noticeable because some Muslims thought it sacrilegious. Its 1988 publication triggered public protests. The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's murder in 1989.

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New York State Trooper Major Eugene J. Staniszewski

New York State Trooper Major Eugene J. Staniszewski identified the culprit as Hadi Matar from Fairview, New Jersey. A witness told Media that Rushdie was attacked at 10:45 a.m. A black-shirted man "punched" the author. The witness, who was 75 feet from the stage, didn't hear or see the attacker. Joyce Lussier, a second-row witness, noticed a man who "sprinted across the stage to Rushdie.

"He entered from the left and lunged at him. He crossed the stage in two seconds "stated Lussier. She heard screams and watched crowd members rush the stage. Police said Matar stabbed Rushdie in the neck and abdomen. Police say the staff and audience members subdued the man before a state trooper arrested him. Police blocked off the suspect's New Jersey house Friday evening.

Rushdie

Rushdie, the son of a rich Muslim businessman in India, attended Rugby School and Cambridge University, where he earned a master's degree in history.

He worked as a copywriter in London after college before publishing "Grimus" in 1975. Rushdie spent a decade under British protection after the fatwa. The experience taught Rushdie, he told Media in 1999 "to value even more... passionately the things I valued before, such as literature, free expression, and the right to speak unpopular things.

Rushdie's bounty

"It was a rough decade, but we won. Fighting for my beliefs against racism, extremism, and censorship." Rushdie's bounty has never been revoked, but in 1998 the Iranian government pledged not to carry out the fatwa. Ayatollah Ali Khamenei confirmed the religious injunction, though. In February 2017, Khamenei stated on his website that the "fatwa against Rushdie" was still in place, saying, "Imam Khomeini issued the edict."