Author Salman Rushdie was attacked on a lecture stage in New York

 A guy rushed the stage where Indian-born author Salman Rushdie was scheduled to speak on Friday morning in New York, according to the New York State Police. 

In the 1980s, Iran threatened the author's life. Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and chest and flown by helicopter to a nearby hospital, according to the police.

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• The suspect in arrest is a 24-year-old guy from Fairview, New Jersey called Hadi Matar, according to the police. State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski stated during a news conference on Friday night that a motive has not yet been determined.

• The 75-year-old world-famous author was a guest speaker at a lecture series at the Chautauqua Institution when the incident took place. A man suspect charged the stage and attacked Rushdie and an interviewer at around 11 a.m. ET, according to a police report.

• Rushdie was rushed to a nearby hospital when the culprit was quickly brought into jail. According to The Associated Press, Rushdie's agency said that the author had undergone surgery and was currently on a ventilator with a damaged liver, severed nerves in his arm, and the potential loss of an eye.

• Staniszewski added that Henry Reese, the interviewer, had undergone brief treatment for a head injury at a nearby hospital and had since been discharged.

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• Reese stood on stage with Rushdie during the attack and is a co-founder of City of Asylum, a residence programme for writers in exile.

• According to Michael Hill, president of the Chautauqua Institution, security requirements for events are evaluated on an individual basis.

• At the news conference, he declared, "I would say we take our security measures very, very seriously.

• Due to the significance of this specific event, the institution claimed to have a state trooper and a sheriff's officer there. Like other participants, Matar had paid a pass for the occasion, according to Hill.

• According to Hill, the situation at Chautauqua today was unlike anything else in the town's nearly 150-year history. "We are called to confront hate, the worst human quality, and fear today."

• According to the Chautauqua Institution's event page, Rushdie was in town to speak with Reese on how the United States acts as a haven for writers who are in exile.

• Rushdie has published 14 books, including The Satanic Verses, one of his best-known works, which in 1989 prompted the leader of Iran to issue a death threat on the author.

• In addition to his writing, Rushdie has always defended the value of freedom of expression. Between 2004 and 2006, he presided over PEN America. Subsequently, he oversaw the PEN World Voices International Literary Festival for ten years.

• The incident startled the group, according to PEN America CEO Suzanne Nossel in a statement. Just hours before the attack, Rushdie had sent her an email offering to help Ukrainian writers who were seeking asylum.

• Despite years of persecution for his writing, Salman Rushdie "has never flinched or wavered," according to Nossel. He has worked nonstop to protect and defend those who are threatened.

Content source: https://www.npr.org/2022/08/12/1117164727/author-salman-rushdie-was-attacked-on-a-lecture-stage-in-new-york