No good news, Salman Rushdie could lose an eye, says agent

NEW YORK: 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 Friday.

The British author of "The Satanic Verses", which sparked fury among Muslims, had to be airlifted to the 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 had 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 suspected 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.

The motive for the stabbing remains unclear.

An interviewer onstage, 73-year-old Ralph Henry Reese, suffered a facial injury but has been released from the hospital, police said.

The attack took place at the Chautauqua Institution, which hosts arts programs in a tranquil lakeside community 70 miles (110 kilometres) south of Buffalo city.

"What many of us witnessed today was a violent expression of hate that shook us to our core," the Chautauqua Institution said in a statement.

LeVan, a Chautauqua regular, said the suspect "was trying to stab him as many times as possible before he was subdued," adding that he believed the man "was trying to kill" Rushdie.

"There were gasps of horror and panic from the crowd," the professor said.