Salman Rushdie on ventilator after attack

Writer could lose eye after NY stabbing; suspect charged with attempted murder and assault

NEW YORK • Author 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 man suspected of attacking him has been charged with attempted murder and assault, prosecutors said yesterday.

The British author of The Satanic Verses, which sparked fury among some Muslims, had been airlifted to hospital for emergency surgery.

“The news is not good,” said his agent Andrew Wylie. “Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged,” said Mr Wylie, who added that Mr Rushdie, 75, could not speak.

Dr Carl LeVan, an American University politics professor at the literary event, said the assailant had rushed onto the stage where Mr Rushdie was seated and “stabbed him repeatedly and viciously”.

Several people brought the suspect to the ground before a trooper at the event arrested him, and a doctor in the audience administered medical care until emergency first responders arrived.