The British writer of Indian origin, Salman Rushdie, was stabbed today, Friday, while he was in a hall in New York City, preparing to give a lecture.
The Associated Press reported that a man broke into the Chautauqua Foundation theater and began punching and stabbing Rushdie while he was on stage giving a lecture.
For its part, the New York Police confirmed that the writer Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the neck, and was taken by helicopter to a hospital in the area, "and his condition is unknown."
She said a suspected man ran towards the stage and attacked Rushdie and one of the event hosts, explaining that she had arrested a suspect.
News agencies pointed out that Rushdie received death threats from Iran in the eighties of the last century, because of his writings. Tehran has banned Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses" since 1988 and has been classified as "blasphemy".
A year later, the late Iranian guide Imam Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie to be killed, and Iran offered more than $3 million as a reward for whoever killed him.
Iran later retracted this fatwa and Rushdie lived relatively openly in recent years.