Salman Rushdie attacked: his agent announces that the writer has lost the use of a hand and an eye

His attack sent shockwaves throughout the world. British writer Salman Rushdie lost the use of a hand and an eye after the “brutal” attack he suffered last August, his agent revealed this Saturday in an interview with The country.

“(His injuries) were deep, but he (also) lost sight in one eye… He received three serious injuries to his neck. One of his hands is disabled because the nerves in his arm were severed. He has about 15 other injuries.” on his chest and torso,” says Andrew Wylie.

“It was a brutal attack,” he sums up the Spanish newspaper.

Targeted for 30 years by a fatwa from Iran, the author of satanic verses He was stabbed a dozen times during a conference given in August in the northern United States.

“He will live”

Despite the seriousness of the injuries, the vital prognosis of the 75-year-old writer is not compromised, says his agent.

“He will live… That’s the most important thing,” he said, declining to say whether the writer is still hospitalized.

Until now, the exact extent of Salman Rushdie’s injuries was unknown. His son had mentioned a “critical situation”, as well as “serious” and “life-changing” injuries, in a press release published a few days after the tragedy.

His agent then announced that the author was no longer on life support and that “the road to recovery (had) begun”.

Such an attack foreseen by the writer

Andrew Wylie said that he had already discussed with his client the possibility of such an event taking place while Salman Rushdie was living under police protection with his client.

“The main danger (…) came from someone coming out of nowhere and attacking him,” he says. “We can’t protect ourselves from that because it’s totally unexpected and illogical, like the murder of John Lennon,” he said.

The suspect in the assault is a 24-year-old American. Arrested shortly after the attack, he did not say whether he had been inspired by the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 from Iran, which called for the death of the attacker. satanic verses, considered blasphemous. He pleaded not guilty.