Rushdie's Stabbing Turns Peaceful Literary Retreat Into Turmoil

The writer was stabbed on Friday at an event, in what US authorities described as a "targeted, preplanned" attack.

Salman Rushdie

(Photo Courtesy: Twitter)

The Chautauqua Institution in New York where Salman Rushdie, a renowned author, was due to speak on Friday was not a place where people worried about their safety.

However, as Rushdie was about to begin his lecture about artistic freedom, a 24-year-old New Jersey man stormed the stage and stabbed Rushdie in the neck and torso. Rushdie sustained several injuries and was kept on the ventilator. He has been taken off the ventilator since and his team shared that Rushdie was able to speak.

The Indian-born author Rushdie spent years in hiding after Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against him in 1989 asked Muslims to kill him because of his novel The Satanic Verses which some Muslims said contained blasphemous passages, according to a report by Reuters.

Michael Hill, Chautauqua Institution's president, said that the community that brings together thousands of people for its nine weeks of summer programming made security its top priority.

The institute had requested assistance from the Chautauqua County Sheriff's department and the New York State Police department for Rushdie's event.

Hill added that the institute was a safe place that encouraged civil dialogue on religious, social, and political issues and such a brutal attack was "unprecedented".

"Chautauqua has always been an extremely safe place."

Michael Hill, Chautauqua Institute President.

Algerian writer and human rights activist Anouar Rahmani who was scheduled to speak after Rushdie during the literary retreat said he only showed his entry pass and was allowed into the event without having to go through security screenings.

Rahmani vouched that there should have been more protection around Rushdie. Rahmani himself had faced threats against his life after he publicly demanded that same-sex marriage be legalized in Algeria, he said.

For this retreat, the attendees entered through the main gates and their passes were scanned to get into the amphitheater. There were no bag checks or metal detectors along the way.

(With inputs from Reuters)