Salman Rushdie was about to give a lecture on freedom of creativity at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York, on Friday, when a young man attacked him with a knife, stabbing him several times.
And the British newspaper “Daily Mail” said that striker Hadi Matar, 24, deliberately took several steps to put himself in a place where he could harm Rushdie, including obtaining a ticket to participate in the event at which Rushdie was scheduled to speak.
She added that Matar, an American of Lebanese origin, arrived at the institute’s venue, which hosted the lectures a few days before the meeting.
In the context, a doctor who witnessed the stabbing said that it occurred despite the presence of two policemen in the place, as they were working to secure the event, but the crowd that was present intervened and stopped the attacker.
“It was the public who subdued the attacker, and soon the two policemen handcuffed him,” said Martin Haskell, an Ohio physician.
He pointed out that the presence of the two policemen did not prevent the attacker, who ran quickly towards the platform, wielding his knife, without any hindrance.
But it is not clear where exactly the two elements were standing in the event.
A spokesman for the New York Police Department confirmed that two police officers were already on the scene, in order to provide security for the event, at the request of the Chautauqua Institute.
According to Haskell, a number of those who were at a lecture noticed that Matar was frequenting the yard of the Chautauqua Institution.
And the “Daily Mail” reported that the attacker obtained a ticket to attend the concert, and arrived one day before the attack at the place carrying a false identity.
She pointed out that Rushdie was stabbed 12 times in the neck and face, noting that other reports stated that the number of stabbings amounted to 10, some of them in the abdomen.
The prosecutor in Chautauqua County, where the attack occurred, said during Hadi Matar’s trial on Saturday that he had traveled by bus to the province at least one day before the incident, and had bought a ticket for the lecture on Wednesday.
He stressed that the attack was pre-planned and unjustified.
Rushdie’s condition improved
Rushdie’s colleague, writer Ayesh Tayseer, said that Rushdie’s condition (75 years) improved, instead of removing the ventilator from him.
Tayseer wrote a tweet on “Twitter” in which he confirmed that Rushdie was talking and “joking”, but he was still suffering from serious injuries, and later deleted the tweet, but Rushdi’s agent confirmed the correctness of the information that Tayseer had said.
It is noteworthy that Matar was accused of trying to kill Rushdie, the author of the novel “The Satanic Verses”, but he pleaded not guilty.
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