Author Salman Rushdie, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was stabbed on Friday as he was about to deliver a lecture in western New York, according to media reports. The Associated Press said its reporter witnessed a man storming the stage at the Chautauqua institution.
The author fell to the floor, and the man was restrained. Rushdie’s condition was not immediately known, AP reported. Rushdie has been airlifted to the hospital by a medical helicopter, videos from the area showed. Salman Rushdie rose to prominence with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel “Midnight’s Children,” but his name became known around the world after The Satanic Verses. The book has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous.