British author Salman Rushdie, famous for his novel 'The Devil's Poem', which caused controversy over Islamic blasphemy, was stabbed while giving a lecture in New York State.



Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and abdomen by a knife wielded by a man who rushed onto the stage just before giving a lecture at the Shutterquare Institute on the morning of the 12th local time, and was immediately transferred to a local hospital for surgery. 



Rushdie spokeswoman Andrew Wiley said Rushdie is currently breathing on a ventilator, and that his arm nerves were severed and his liver was stabbed with a knife.



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He said he was afraid he would lose another eye.



The suspect was identified as Hardy Matar, a resident of Fairview, New Jersey.



The suspect was arrested at the scene, but the motive for the crime has yet to be confirmed.



While the host was introducing Rushdi to about 2,500 spectators, Mattar approached Rushdi sitting on the sofa on the stage and swung his weapon and fists 10 to 15 times.



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Rushdi has been heavily criticized by Muslims for his disrespectful portrayal of the Islamic prophet Muhammad in relation to his 1988 novel The Devil's Poem.



The book was banned by most Islamic countries, and in 1989 Iran's supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, published a fatwa, an interpretation of Islamic law, urging the murder of Rushdi and anyone involved in the publication of the book. declared.



As a result, Rushdie had to hide under a pseudonym for a while, and in 1991 the Japanese translator of this book was murdered.



It is said that he was able to go public little by little after the Iranian government stated in 1998 that it no longer supported Fatwa on Rushdi.



However, several groups affiliated with the Iranian government are still not collecting the multi-million-dollar bounty on Rushdi's neck.



Khomeini's successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, said at the end of 2017 that 'Fatwa is still in effect'.



Born into a Muslim family in Mumbai, India, and moved to the UK, Rushdi obtained US citizenship in 2016 and has been living in New York City.



In addition to the devil's poetry, Rushdie wrote an autobiographical memoir and novel 'Midnight Children' about his secret life, and plans to publish a new novel 'Victory City' in February next year.



Pen America, an advocacy group for freedom of expression, led by Rushdi, criticized the incident as "shocking and horrific" as an "unprecedented attack on a writer living in the United States."



British Prime Minister Boris Johnson also deplored on Twitter: "Rushdie has been attacked for exercising a right we must never stop defending."



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