New Delhi: The police have identified the attacker of Author Salman Rushdie but the motive behind is said to be still unclear.
The attacker has been identified as Hadi Matar, 24, a resident of New Jersey.
The 75-year-old author is now put on ventilation but there is a risk of him losing an eye. He has received severe injuries on his arm and also his liver.
While the motive behind the attack was not yet made clear, it needs to be mentioned that a reward was put on his head by Iranian top leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
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Rushdie had to hide following this in the early 90s but came out in the open only after the Iranian government in 1998 said it won’t enforce that ‘fatwa’ or edict.
Rushdie’s book “The Satanic Verses” has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it to be blasphemous. A year later, Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
A bounty of over $3 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie.
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Iran’s government has long since distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment lingered. In 2012, a semi-official Iranian religious foundation raised the bounty for Rushdie from $2.8 million to $3.3 million.
Rushdie dismissed that threat at the time, saying there was “no evidence” of people being interested in the reward.
That year, Rushdie published a memoir, “Joseph Anton,” about the fatwa.