Salman Rushdie, the acclaimed author who was stabbed repeatedly during a public event in New York state on Friday, 33 years after Iran’s then-supreme leader ordered for his death, is no longer on a ventilator, his agency and a son confirmed on Sunday.
“He’s off the ventilator, therefore the path to recovery has begun,” said Andrew Wylie, his agent.”It will be a long road; his injuries are significant, but his condition is better.” According to investigators, Rushdie, 75, was about to give a speech on the usefulness of the United States as a safe haven for targeted artists at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York when a 24-year-old man rushed to the stage and stabbed him.
Following the publication of his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses,” which some Muslims believe contains blasphemous sections, the Indian-born writer has lived with a bounty on his head. Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s supreme leader, issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for his killing in 1989.
