Source: Politics<\/p>\n
CHAUTAUQUA, N.Y. \u2014 Salman Rushdie, the author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked Friday as he was about to give a lecture in western New York.<\/p>\n
An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage at the Chautauqua Institution and begin punching or stabbing Rushdie as he was being introduced. The 75-year-old author was pushed or fell to the floor, and the man was restrained.<\/p>\n
Rushdie was quickly surrounded by a small group of people who held up his legs, presumably to send more blood to his chest.<\/p>\n
His condition was not immediately known.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people in the audience gasped at the sight of the attack and were then evacuated.<\/p>\n
Rushdie\u2019s book \u201cThe Satanic Verses\u201d has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous. A year later, Iran\u2019s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie\u2019s death.<\/p>\n
A bounty of over $3 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s government has long since distanced itself from Khomeini\u2019s decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment has lingered. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.<\/p>\n
Rushdie dismissed that threat at the time, saying there was \u201cno evidence\u201d of people being interested in the reward.<\/p>\n
That year, Rushdie published a memoir, \u201cJoseph Anton,\u201d about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie had used while in hiding.<\/p>\n
Rushdie rose to prominence with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel \u201cMidnight\u2019s Children,\u201d but his name became known around the world after \u201cThe Satanic Verses.\u201d<\/p>\n
The Chautauqua Institution, about 55 miles southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, is known for its summertime lecture series. Rushdie has spoken there before.<\/p>\n