Prime Minister Justin Trudeau condemned the “cowardly attack” on novelist Salman Rushdie, calling it “a strike on freedom of expression.”
In a tweet on Saturday afternoon, the Prime Minister wrote: “The cowardly attack on Salman Rushdie is a strike on the freedom of expression our world depends on.”
Read more: Salman Rushdie attack: Suspect charged with attempted murder, assault
“No one should be threatened or harmed on the basis of what he has written. I wish him a speedy recovery.”
The cowardly attack on Salman Rushdie is a strike on the freedom of expression our world depends on. No one should be threatened or harmed based on what they have written. I wish him a speedy recovery.
— Justin Trudeau (@JustinTrudeau) August 13, 2022
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Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye, and was on a ventilator and unable to speak after being attacked on stage before a conference in the state of Nova York, his agent Andrew Wylie said Friday evening. It is likely that he lost the injured eye.
Rushdie’s alleged attacker, Hadi Matar, 24, was due in court on Saturday to face charges of attempted murder and assault, authorities said. He was arrested after the attack on the Chautauqua Institution, a non-profit educational and retreat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak.
Authors, activists and government officials have condemned the attack and cited Rushdie’s courage for his defense of free speech despite risks to his own safety. News of the attack was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for the award-winning author who has faced death threats for more than 30 years over his novel “The satanic verses”.
Rushdie’s fellow author and friend Ian McEwan called him “an inspiring advocate for persecuted writers and journalists around the world,” while actor and author Kal Penn cited him as a role model “for a whole generation of artists, especially for many of us in the South Asian Diaspora towards whom he has shown incredible warmth.”
3:43 Salman Rushdie attack: Police name suspect, provide perpetrator status update Salman Rushdie attack: Police name suspect, provide perpetrator status update
Canadian writers, publishers and literary figures also downplayed the right to freedom of thought and expression after the attack.
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Penguin Random House Canada executive vice-president and publisher Louise Dennys, which has published and edited Rushdie’s writings for more than 30 years, called the attack “cowardly” and “reprehensible in every way.”
Dennys said the novelist is one of the greatest advocates of freedom of thought and expression in the world today, adding that the attack is already having the opposite effect to his suspected intentions given the strong support of the international literary community.
Canadian writer John Ralston Saul, who has known Rushdie since the 1990s, said the author was always aware that someone could attack him, but chose to live publicly to speak out against those who they were trying to silence free speech and debate.
Read more: Salman Rushdie: Author on fan after being stabbed on stage in New York
Rushdie, a native of India who has since lived in Britain and the United States, is known for his surreal and satirical prose style, beginning with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel Midnight’s Children , a book in which he harshly criticized India. the then Prime Minister, Indira Gandhi.
“The Satanic Verses” drew death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims considering a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous, among other objections. Rushdie’s book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death.
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— With files from The Associated Press and The Canadian Press
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