(Tehran) At the book market in Tehran, everyone is aware on Saturday of the aggression suffered the day before by the British writer Salman Rushdie in the United States, but only those who support this attack are speaking out.
Updated at 12:15 a.m.
The assailant pleads not guilty
Salman Rushdie’s assailant pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted second-degree murder and assault with a weapon Saturday at the Chautauqua County Courthouse in New York state. “This was a targeted, unprovoked and planned attack on Mr. Rushdie,” prosecutor Jason Schmidt said. The day before, Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man of Lebanese origin, stabbed the author of the satanic verseswho was on stage at the Chautauqua Institution, before a literary conference.
Rushdie remained hospitalized on Saturday, but was taken off his ventilator. He even allegedly talked and made jokes, according to a message posted by author Aatish Taseer and confirmed by the writer’s agent, Andrew Wylie.
PHOTO GENE J. PUSKAR, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Defendant Hadi Matar on his arrival in court
The motives of the attacker are still unknown. According to the NBC network and the New York PostHadi Matar showed online his support for Iran and Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, who initiated the fatwa decreed in 1989 against the famous writer.
Wave of indignation
The attack on Salman Rushdie, an unwitting symbol of freedom of expression, sent shockwaves through the West. United States President Joe Biden condemned the “brutal attack”, hailing Rushdie’s refusal “to be intimidated or silenced.” The 75-year-old Indian-British author has lived in New York for more than 20 years. The Prime Minister of Canada, Justin Trudeau, denounced a “cowardly attack” and an “affront to freedom of expression”. “His fight is ours, universal,” French President Emmanuel Macron tweeted, while UN Secretary General António Guterres said he was “horrified”.
“The work [de Salman Rushdie] and his whole life remind us of what the life of a public writer is in reality”, reacted the Canadian writer John Ralston Saul, who has known the famous author since the 1990s, when he lived in hiding. and under police protection.
PHOTO WIKIMEDIA COMMONS
John Ralston Saul in 2006
It would be the worst possible time to give in or show that we need to be more careful with our words. We’re not really writers if we give in to that kind of threat.
John Ralston Saul
Praises in Iran
In Iran, where the fatwa against Salman Rushdie has never been lifted, the writer’s assailant has drawn praise. “Bravo to this brave and duty-conscious man who attacked the apostate and vicious Salman Rushdie,” wrote the leading ultra-conservative daily. Kayhan. “I was very happy to hear the news. Whoever the author, I kiss his hand,” a man told a journalist from Agence France-Presse in Tehran.
PHOTO VAHID SALEMI, ASSOCIATED PRESS
Tehran newsstand, Saturday morning
Some citizens still condemned the affront to freedom of expression, reports The Guardian. “In my community, the majority of people are not happy with what happened to him. I don’t agree with what happened,” a 29-year-old Kurd told the English daily. In Iraq, the pro-Iranian media Sabreen headlined its front page with: “Peace be with you. God’s vengeance. And in Pakistan, the radical Islamist Tehreek-e-Labbaik party said Rushdie “deserved to be killed.”
The sales of satanic verses on the rise
The sales of satanic verses by Salman Rushdie, a novel that has earned him death threats for 30 years, were up on Saturday. Three editions of the book topped Amazon’s book sales. And the very first bestseller of the writer, The Midnight Children, ranked fourth. In the emblematic New York bookstore Strand Bookstore, several books were sold on site, not to mention online sales. “People came and were looking for any of his writings, they wanted to know what we had,” Katie Silvernail, department manager at the store, told AFP.
With Agence France-Presse, The Guardian and The New York Times