Tel-Chai Nation

The India-born author who had an Islamic fatwa placed upon his head by the Iranian ayatollah Khomeini in 1988 after writing the Satanic Verses was stabbed 15 times while preparing to give a speech at an institution in New York (via Geller Report):

Salman Rushdie is on a ventilator, cannot speak, and will likely lose an eye, after being stabbed up to 15 times on Friday by a suspect police have identified as a man from New Jersey ‘with sympathies toward the Iranian government.’

Authorities descended on the Fairview, New Jersey home of 24-year-old Hadi Matar hours after he allegedly attacked Rushdie onstage at a literary event in upstate New York.

The bloodied Rushdie, 75, who has been the subject of death threats from the Iranian regime since 1989, was airlifted to the hospital and his condition was updated by his agent Andrew Wylie shortly before 7 p.m.

‘The news is not good,’ Wylie said in a statement. ‘Salman will likely lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged.’

Rushdie was attacked and stabbed multiple times, including in the neck and abdomen, as he was being introduced for the CHQ 2022 event in Chautauqua, near Buffalo, on Friday morning.

Matar, who police say gained access to the grounds with a pass, managed to walk off the stage before being restrained, as people rushed to assist Rushdie.

Law enforcement sources told The New York Post that an initial investigation suggests Matar is sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, although he was born around nine years after the fatwa against Rushdie was first issued.

Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, a co-founder of an organization that offers residencies to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. He and Rushdie were due to discuss the United States as a refuge for writers and other artists in exile.

What's decidedly telling is that no security check was made to see if the jihadist carried any weapons. This tragedy also occurred within a Democrat-run state, which could suggest why it was possible for the culprit to gain access so easily. Something tells me that in Britain, it wouldn't have been as easy.

So far, Rushdie is still alive (also via Geller Report). But for all we know, things could turn much more sour any moment, as a terrible incident that could've been prevented tragically took place.

Labels: anti-americanism, conferences, dhimmitude, India, iran, islam, jihad, New York, terrorism, United States