The author no longer needs artificial respiration and starts talking slowly. However, Rushdie’s arm nerve cords have been cut, he may lose an eye.
Iran blames Salman Rushdie himself and his supporters for the knife attack on the world-renowned author. Freedom of expression does not justify Rushdie’s insults to religion in his works, Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani told reporters on Monday. He only has information about Rushdie’s attacker that can be found in the media. “There is no connection between Iran and the perpetrator,” he said.
The 75-year-old author, meanwhile, is doing better. “Despite his serious and life-changing injuries, his usual fierce and defiant sense of humor remains intact,” his son Zafar Rushdie wrote on Twitter on Sunday. The 75-year-old is no longer connected to a ventilator. He was also able to speak a few words. In addition to the alleged perpetrator, the Iranian leadership is increasingly under international criticism.
Rushdie was attacked by a man at an event in Chautauqua, western New York, on Friday and has since been treated at a hospital in neighboring Pennsylvania. The Anglo-Indian writer has been hounded by religious fanatics for decades, but police have yet to confirm the motive for the attack.
Internet portal Vice News reported on Sunday, citing secret service sources in Europe and the Middle East, that the suspect was in contact with the Iranian Revolutionary Guard on social media. However, there is no evidence that Iran was involved in organizing or carrying out the attack.
Rushdie might lose an eye
Meanwhile, US Secretary of State Antony Blinken criticized Iran. “Iranian state institutions, in particular, have incited violence against Rushdie for generations, and state media have recently gloated over the attack on his life,” he said. That’s “despicable”. The US and its partners have faced such threats.
British prime minister candidate Rishi Sunak has previously called for sanctions against Iran. Sunak told the Telegraph (Sunday) that the attack should be an “awakening for the West” and speak in favor of classifying the Iranian Revolutionary Guard as a terrorist organization. It is also necessary to ask whether a possible agreement with Iran in the nuclear dispute “has reached a dead end”.
Because of Rushdie’s 1988 work The Satanic Verses, then-Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for the author to be killed. He accused him of insulting Islam, the Prophet and the Quran. Among other things, the book features a character who resembles the Prophet Muhammad. The criticism is that Rushdie questioned the divine origin of the Quran. The death sentence was followed by Rushdie’s dramatic escape and years in hiding. He has lived in New York for over 20 years.
Alleged abuser remains silent in court
The alleged perpetrator was silent in court on Saturday and had his public defender declare him “not guilty”, as reported by the “New York Times” and other US media outlets. He was charged with attempted second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon and intent to cause bodily harm, police said. Second-degree murder is a separate offense in the US legal system for the death of a human being. For this, the accused in the state of New York can be sentenced to years in prison.
Publicist Günter Wallraff once again condemned Rushdie’s assassination attempt. It was “disgusting” that Iranian state media frantically celebrated the alleged killer, Wallraff told “Kölner Stadt-Anzeiger” (Monday). Wallraff hid Rushdie in his Cologne-Ehrenfeld home in 1993.
By the weekend, celebrities and politicians around the world had already criticized the attack with clear words and wished Rushdie a speedy recovery. US President Joe Biden promised Rushdie was not bullied and defended “core and universal values” such as truth, courage and resilience.
(APA)