Salman Rushdie attacked on lecture stage in New York

CHAUTAUQUA, NEW YORK, AUGUST 12: Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked on Friday as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.
An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing Mr. Rushdie as he was being introduced. The author was taken or fell to the floor, and the man was restrained.
Mr. Rushdie was quickly surrounded by a small group of people who held up his legs, presumably to send more blood to his chest.
His condition was not immediately known.
Hundreds of people in the audience gasped at the sight of the attack and were then evacuated.
Mr. Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous. A year later, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Mr. Rushdie’s death.
Iran has also offered over $3 million in reward for anyone who kills Mr. Rushdie.
Iran’s government has long since distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment lingered. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Mr. Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.
Mr. Rushdie dismissed that threat at the time, saying there was “no evidence” of people being interested in the reward.
That year, Mr. Rushdie published a memoir, Joseph Anton about the fatwa. (Agencies)