The attack on Rushdie is an attack on all those who defend free speech!

 

Salman Rushdie

I've never read Salman Rushdie, but what has happened to him in America, is disgusting. Anyone who believes in free speech has to condemn attacks of this kind. 

Over thirty-years ago, there were literary figures in Britain who were hostile to the Rugby and Cambridge educated Rushdie, and had little sympathy for him, when Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa on him in 1989, for publishing his novel 'The Satanic Verses' and for "insulting Islam." Rushdie issued an apology for any offence caused which was rejected by Iran. 

Alan Clark, the author and Conservative politician considered Rushdie, "a tiresome piece of work." The spy novelist and former MI6 officer, John le Carre, thought that Rushdie should be left to look after himself. In a letter to the Guardian (15/1/1990), the spy novelist denounced Rushdie's "almost colonial arrogance...Nobody has a God-given right to insult a great religion and be published with impunity." 

Although Rushdie was no fan of Margaret Thatcher, she told Alan Clark, that sympathy for Rushdie's views was not the point, and declared, "We must react strongly to any state murder hunt made against one of our citizens.' Her authorized biographer, Charles Moore, who describes Rushdie as a "classic salon leftist", wrote that "Her governments reaction had been 'instinctive and correct' in deciding to defend free speech and the safety of a citizen." Rushdie said, "She had a great life, and offered me protection when I needed it." 

The man who attacked Salman Rushdie at a literary event in New York on Friday, has been identified as Hadi Matar (24), from New Jersey. It's believed that Salman Rushdie was stabbed in the arm and liver and could lose an eye. He's been hospitalised and is on a ventilator. The suspect has been charged with attempted murder. 

The Kayhan newspaper in Iran, which is said to have close connections to Iran's supreme leader, Ali Khamenei, welcomed the attack on Rushdie, and declared, "a thousand bravos" showed be bestowed upon the " brave and dutiful person who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York."