and Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and the use of one of his hands after being attacked onstage in August, his agent has revealed.
Sir Salman, the Indian-born British author whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was set to lecture at the Chautauqua Institute, New York stands, when a man stormed the stage and stabbed him.
In an interview with the Spanish newspaper El Pais, Sir Salman’s agent, Andrew Wyle, said the 75-year-old “lost one eye” after the attack.
“He had three serious wounds to his neck,” said Mr Wylie.
“One hand is disabled because the nerves in his arm have been severed. And he still has about 15 wounds in his chest and torso. So it was a brutal attack.”
Mr Wylie declined to reveal whether Sir Salman remained in hospital as he did not want to risk revealing his whereabouts.
“He will live…that’s the most important thing,” he added.
Wylie said a seizure was “probably something Salman and I discussed in the past”.
“The biggest danger he faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed is that a random person will come out of nowhere and attack him,” the officer said.
“So you can’t protect yourself from that, because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like the murder of John Lennon.”
Hadi Matar, 24, was arrested for allegedly stabbing Sir Salman. He was charged with attempted second-degree murder, which carries a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison, and one count of second-degree assault – Matar has pleaded not guilty to the charges.
Sir Salman was threatened for years by his book The Satanic Verses, which has been banned in Iran since 1988 because many Muslims consider it blasphemous.
The publication of the book prompted Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa in 1989 calling for the writer’s death.