Rushdie on ventilator support, may lose eye

Salman Rushdie, who spent years in hiding after an Iranian fatwa ordered his killing, was on a ventilator and could lose an eye following a stabbing attack at a literary event in New York state on Friday.

The author of "The Satanic Verses", which sparked fury among some Muslims who believed it was blasphemous, was airlifted to hospital for emergency surgery following the attack.

His agent said in a statement obtained by The New York Times that "the news is not good". "Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged," said agent Andrew Wylie, who added that Rushdie could not speak.

Carl LeVan, an American University politics professor attending the literary event, told AFP that the assailant rushed onto the stage where Rushdie was seated and "stabbed him repeatedly and viciously".

Several people ran to the stage and took the suspect to the ground before a trooper present at the event arrested him. A doctor in the audience administered medical care until emergency first responders arrived.

New York state police identified the attacker as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from Fairfield, New Jersey, adding that he stabbed Rushdie in the neck as well as the abdomen. He has been charged with attempted murder and assault, prosecutors said on Saturday.

"The individual responsible for the attack yesterday, Hadi Mattar, has now been formally charged with Attempted Murder in the Second Degree and Assault in the Second Degree," Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said in a statement.

"He was arraigned on these charges last night and remanded without bail," the statement added.

Matar was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, Mayor Ali Tehfe told The Associated Press. His birth was a decade after "The Satanic Verses" first was published.

The motive for the attack was unclear, State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said.