Indian-born British writer Salman Rushdie, who received death threats from Iran in the late 1980s, was attacked today by an unknown assailant at an event in New York.

On the stage where Rushdie was preparing to give a speech, a man armed with a knife suddenly came out and began to beat the 75-year-old author, who collapsed to the ground.

The attacker was stopped and detained. As it later became known, the man arrested on charges of attempted murder, the name is Hadi Matar, he is 24 years old, he is from New Jersey.

According to media reports, the assailant managed to stab the 75-year-old writer between ten and fifteen times before he stopped and was finally apprehended.

According to the police report, the author was stabbed in the neck and airlifted to the hospital.

Reuters reports that Rushdie is in the operating room, citing a representative of the 75-year-old author.

The book The Satanic Verses, written by Salman Rushdie, caused tension and reaction in several countries of the Muslim world in 1988, as it was considered “blasphemous” in content. In fact, Iran’s then supreme religious leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a religious decree calling for Rushdie’s assassination.

Today, the New York Times tried to contact an Iranian diplomatic source, who, however, said that Iran did not intend to participate in the assassination.

Outgoing British Prime Minister Boris Johnson has expressed disgust at the attacks on the British writer of Indian origin. “We hope he is ok,” he tweeted. “Shocked,” says author Neil Gaiman, for his part.

I am shocked and saddened to see my friend @SalmanRushdie was attacked before the performance. He is a good person and brilliant and I hope he is ok. https://t.co/URkHxLGE7o

— Neil Gaiman (@neilhimself) August 12, 2022