Suspect in Salman Rushdie attack now in custody
Fox News' Bryan Llenas reports from Chautauqua, New York, where Iranian author Salman Rushdie was stabbed and rushed to the hospital
Iranian state media on Friday condemned author Salman Rushdie, calling him an "apostate" and his writings "blasphemous" after the Indian-born writer was stabbed before a speech in New York.
Rushdie was stabbed in the neck by an attacker before giving a speech at the Chautauqua Institution on Friday after living for more than 30 years under a fatwa calling for his death issued by the Iranian ayatollah in response to his book "The Satanic Verses."
The Islamic Republic News Agency, which described Rushdie as having been "attacked by knife," called him an "apostate author."
It also described "The Satanic Verses" as a "blasphemous novel about Islam."
STABBING OF SALMAN RUSHDIE COMES 33 YEARS AFTER FATWA ISSUED ON HIS LIFE BY IRAN
Author Salman Rushdie is tended to after he was attacked during a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, on Friday, Aug. 12, 2022. (AP Photo/Joshua Goodman)
Meanwhile, FARS News, another regime-owned outlet, also described him as an "apostate" and accused him of having "insulted the Prophet of Islam (PBUH)" with the book's "anti-religious content."
"The Satanic Verses" was published in 1988 and sparked violent protests across the globe from Muslims at what they viewed as blasphemous writing. The fatwa was issued shortly after in 1989. Rushdie has been an outspoken supporter and a symbol of freedom of expression against religious extremism — but has required around-the-clock security.
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"It is free speech that makes it possible for us to be free people. Unfortunately, there are those who wish us not to be free, who would rather use the assassin’s veto to compel belief and silence dissent," the Foundation for Individual Rights and Expression told Fox News Digital in a statement following the attack on Rushdie. "Mr. Rushdie has long understood free speech’s necessity. He is among its strongest advocates: ‘Free speech is the whole thing, the whole ball game.’"
The Iranian regime has stood by the fatwa, with Ayatollah Ali Khamenei tweeting in 2019 that the fatwa "is based on divine verses, and just like divine verses, it is solid and irrevocable."
Iranian dissidents pinned the blame for the attack on the regime in Tehran and specifically its leadership.
"For the attempt to kill British author Salman Rushdie, there is no need for forensic evidence to know about the mastermind of this murder plot, Over three decades ago, then Supreme Leader Khomeini issued a fatwa to kill Rushdie, and senior Iranian regime officials have repeatedly endorsed it and even offered multi-million dollars bounties for his life," Alireza Jafarzadeh, Deputy Director of the Washington Office of the National Council of Resistance of Iran, told Fox News Digital.
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The attack comes days after the Justice Department revealed charges against an Iran Revolutionary Guards Corp member for an alleged plot to kill former national security adviser John Bolton. The plot is believed to be in retaliation for the 2020 killing of IRGC Quds Forces Leader Qassem Soleimani, who was taken out in an airstrike.
Jafarzadeh told Fox that Tehran had stepped up killings in Iran and plots abroad since President Ebrahim Raisi took office in August last year, and called for Raisi to be denied a visa to next month's U.N. General Assembly.
"He must be denied a visa, and his regime must be held to account for crimes against humanity, genocide, and terrorism including for the attempted murder on the life of Salman Rushdie," he said.
Fox News’ Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.
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