Salman Rushdie is off the ventilator and talking, said the president of Chautauqua Institution, where the Mumbai-born author was stabbed onstage.
SalmanRushdie is off the ventilator and talking! The continued prayers from all chq continued, according to Chautauqua Institution President Michael Hill in a tweet on Saturday night.
Rushdie, 75, was in a ventilator after he was stabbed by 24-year-old Hadi Matar onstage at a Friday event at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York State. Rushdie was in surgery several hours after the attack, and his agent Andrew Wylie told The New York Times NYT that the author was on a ventilator and could not speak.
The news is not good. Wylie said in a statement to the NYT that Salman will likely lose one eye, the nerves in his arm were severed and his liver was stabbed and damaged.
Matar was charged with attempted murder and assault in the stabbing of Rushdie and pleaded not guilty. He made his appearance in court, wearing a black- and white striped jumpsuit and handcuffed.
The New York State Police said that Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, was arrested on Friday for attempted murder second degree B Felony and assault second degree. He was transported to Chautauqua County Jail and was arrested at the State Police, Jamestown. He was arraigned in a centralised arraignment on Saturday and was remanded without bail to the Chautauqua County Jail.
The attack on Rushdie provoked shock and condemnation from world leaders and literary stalwarts.
US President Joe Biden said on Saturday that he and First Lady Jill Biden were shocked and saddened to learn of the vicious attack on the author.
Salman Rushdie stands for essential universal ideals with his insight into humanity, his unmatched sense for story, his refusal to be intimidated or silenced. These are the building blocks of a free and open society. In solidarity with Rushdie and all those who stand for freedom of expression, Biden said today that we reaffirm our commitment to those deeply American values.
Together with all Americans and people around the world, we are praying for his health and recovery. He said that I am grateful to the first responders and the brave individuals who jumped into action to aid Rushdie and subdue the attacker.
UN Secretary General Antonio Guterres said he was appalled to learn about the attack on Rushdie. The Secretary-General was appalled to learn of the attack on the renowned novelist Salman Rushdie, a statement issued on Friday by his spokesperson.
Guterres expressed his wishes for Rushdie's early recovery in no case is violence a response to words spoken or written by others in their exercise of the freedoms of opinion and expression.
According to a report in The New York Times, Rushdie was stabbed about 10 times in the premeditated attack.
The report said that Matar travelled by bus to the intellectual retreat in western New York and purchased a pass that allowed him to attend the talk Rushdie was to give on Friday morning.