by Nathan Layne
(Reuters) – Salman Rushdie is no longer on life support and his condition is improving, his literary agent and son said on Sunday, two days after the writer was stabbed multiple times during an appearance public in New York State.
“He is no longer on a ventilator, so the road to recovery has begun,” his agent, Andrew Wylie, wrote in an email to Reuters. “It will be a long time; the injuries are serious, but his condition is going in the right direction.”
The 75-year-old Indian-born author was set to speak on artistic freedom at a conference hosted by the Chautauqua Institution in western New York. Police say a 24-year-old man rushed to the scene and stabbed Salman Rushdie in the neck and abdomen.
The suspect, Hadi Matar, from Fairview, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault during a court appearance on Saturday, his public defender Nathaniel told Reuters. Barone.
After being operated on for several hours, Salman Rushdie was put on life support and was unable to speak on Friday evening, Andrew Wylie said in a previous update on the novelist’s health, adding that he was at risk of losing an eye. He also reported damaged nerves in his arm and liver injuries.
Andrew Wylie did not provide further details on Salman Rushdie’s condition in his email on Sunday.
The stabbing has been condemned by writers and politicians around the world as an attack on freedom of expression.
In a statement on Saturday, US President Joe Biden praised the “universal ideals” of truth, courage and resilience embodied by Rushdie and his work. “These are the foundations of any free and open society,” he said.
Neither local nor federal authorities provided additional details of the investigation on Saturday. Police said Friday they had not established a motive for the attack.
An initial law enforcement review of Hadi Matar’s social media accounts showed he was supportive of Shia extremism and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), although no definitive link has not been found, according to NBC New York.
(Reporting Nathan Layne in Wilton, Connecticut; French version Jean-Michel Bélot, editing by Jean Terzian)