BREAKING: Fatwa attempt on Salman Rushdie: stabbed in New York before giving speech

Novelist Salman Rushdie was to give a speech in upstate Chautauqua, New York, when a man stormed the stage, punched him and then stabbed the author of "Satanic Verses" in the neck as he was being introduced. 

Rushdie went down to the floor and the attacker was restrained by a New York State Trooper.

The New York State Police later confirmed the incident.

[H/T Fox News]

"Rushdie suffered an apparent stab wound to the neck, and was transported by helicopter to an area hospital," the press release said. "His condition is not yet known. The interviewer suffered a minor head injury. A State Trooper assigned to the event immediately took the suspect into custody. The Chautauqua County Sheriff’s Office assisted at the scene."

Rushdie's novel, "Satanic Verses" has been banned in Iran since 1988 as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous. In 1989 the Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or "religious" edict, calling for the author's death and a $3,000,000 reward for the person who kills Rushdie and thus preserve the reputation of the "religion of peace."

While Iran's terrorism sponsoring government tried to distance itself from Khomeini's fatwa, the hate for Rushdie metastasized and in 2012, an Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie to $3,300,000.

At the time, Rushdie said that there was "no evidence" that people were interesting in the reward, but Rushdie is a novelist, not a detective or a poll-taker.

In that same year, he published a memoir, "Joseph Anton," about the fatwa.

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The Chautauqua Institution is a performing arts and community center active from June through September. It hosts major artists and celebrities like Rushdie related to the fields of visual arts, dance, theater, and music.

As of this posting, Rushdie's condition is unknown and the identity of the attacker has not been released, but I suspect he is a Muslim man hoping to collect the reward.

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