British writer Salman Rushdie, whose writings earned him death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was attacked on Friday morning as he prepared to give a lecture in the west of New York State.
The condition of Mr Rushdie, 75, was not immediately known. He was airlifted to a hospital by helicopter, state police said. The moderator was also assaulted and suffered a minor head injury.
An Associated Press reporter saw a man rush onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institution, south of Buffalo, and begin punching or stabbing Mr. Rushdie as the guest speaker was introduced. The writer was pushed or fell to the ground, and his assailant was subdued.
Mr Rushdie was quickly surrounded by a small group of people, who held his legs up, presumably to send more blood to his chest.
Videos circulating on social media show the scene, along with Mr Rushdie being evacuated on a stretcher.
The book The Satanic Verses, by Salman Rushdie, has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it blasphemous. A year later, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the late Iranian leader, issued an edict (“fatwa”) calling for the writer’s death.
A bounty of over US$3 million was also offered to anyone who killed Mr. Rushdie.
The Iranian government has long distanced itself from Ayatollah Khomeini’s fatwa, but anti-Rushdie sentiment persists. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation increased the bounty on his head from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.
Mr Rushdie dismissed the threat at the time, saying there was “no evidence” anyone was interested in the award. That year he published an autobiographical book on the fatwa, Joseph Anthony.
More details will follow.