Still in serious condition from injuries sustained in the stabbing attack, Salman Rushdie, 75, "is on the road to recovery." This was stated yesterday by his literary agent, Andrew Wylie, who clarified that "his condition is going in the right direction." But he called for caution because he warned that this will be a long one.
The author of The Satanic Verses has already been disconnected from the respirator and speaks. "He even cracks jokes," tweeted writer Aatish Taseer.
On Friday, he spent several hours in the operating room, after the 24-year-old fanatic Hadi Matar stabbed him ten times, just at the beginning of a literary act in Chautauqua, in northwestern New York state. According to investigators, the detainee traveled from Fairview (New Jersey) with the premeditated objective of taking his life. Matar is an admirer of Iran and the Iranian Revolutionary Guards. According to investigators, he went with the intention of taking revenge for the 1988 publication of The Satanic Verses. He had not even been born when Ayatollah Khomeini proclaimed a fatwa (with the death penalty) against the writer and essayist for considering that the novel was blasphemous with the Koran and Islam.
Between the stab wounds, Rushdie received three to the neck and four to the stomach, which caused liver damage, severed nerves in one arm and practically lost an eye, the literary agent reported.
"Although his life-changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty and defiant sense of humor remains intact," his son Zafar Rusddie said in a statement, stressing that his father remains in critical condition.
The family's note also expressed gratitude "for the people in the public who bravely jumped to their aid," not forgetting the police officers and doctors. The text thanked "the outpouring of love and support."
The alleged attacker is in prison with no bail option. In his appearance before the judge he pleaded "not guilty" of the assault that occurred in an audience of some 2,500 spectators. Those in the front row were the ones who managed to contain it, despite a very aggressive attitude. Witnesses reported that he tried to continue stabbing when he was already reduced.
Matar, born in California to parents who emigrated from Lebanon, had recently moved to Fairview. It was felt that he should fulfill the mission of ending Rushdie. While the fatwa was deactivated in 1998, there is still a three million bounty on him.
