Stabbed in August in the United States, the British writer Salman Rushdie has since lost the sight of one eye and the use of one hand, among other serious consequences, his agent told the Spanish daily El Pais.
"He has lost sight in one eye... He has had three serious neck injuries. He is disabled in one hand as the nerves in his arm were severed. And he has approximately 15 other injuries to his chest and chest," Andrew Wylie told El Pais in an interview published over the weekend.
"His wounds were very deep (...) It was a brutal attack" but "he will live", he added, thus detailing for the first time the state of health of the writer for several weeks , without indicating whether he is still in the hospital.
>> To read - Like Salman Rushdie, these writers threatened with death in the world
On August 12, Salman Rushdie was about to speak at a conference in upstate New York when a man burst onto the stage and stabbed him multiple times, including in the neck and the abdomen.
Evacuated by helicopter to a hospital, the author of "Satanic Verses" had to be briefly placed on a ventilator before his condition improved.
The main suspect, Hadi Matar, an American of Lebanese origin then aged 24, was arrested immediately after the incident and pleaded not guilty during his trial which opened in mid-August in a court in Mayville, in New York State.
The attack shocked the West but was hailed by extremists in Muslim countries such as Iran and Pakistan.
The writer has been pursued for 33 years by a fatwa from the Iranian Supreme Guide condemning him to death.
With AFP
The summary of the
France 24 week invites you to come back to the news that marked the week
I subscribe
Take international news everywhere with you!
Download the France 24 app