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Satanic Verses
Salman Rushdie was so stunned when a masked man started to stab him on a stage in western New York that the author didn't even try to fight back, a prosecutor said Monday during opening statements in the suspect's attempted murder trial. Rushdie, 77, is expected to testify during the trial of Hadi Matar, bringing the two face-to-face for the first time since the attack that left Rushdie seriously wounded and blind in one eye. On the day of the attack in August 2022, the Booker Prize-winning novelist was seated in an armchair on stage at the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater, about to present a lecture on keeping writers safe. District Attorney Jason Schmidt told jurors Monday that the attack was swift and sudden. He said Matar bounded up a staircase to the stage and ran about 30 feet (9 meters) toward Rushdie. As the stabbing began, Rushdie and fellow speaker Henry Reese were so stunned that they initially remained seated. Without hesitation this man holding his knife forcefully
Some Muslim organisations have strongly condemned the renewed sale of Salman Rushdie's controversial book "The Satanic Verses" in India and appealed to the central government to reinstate the ban on it. Rushdie's book has returned to Indian bookshelves, 36 years after it was banned by the Rajiv Gandhi government in 1988. Currently, 'The Satanic Verses' is available at Bahrisons Booksellers in Delhi-NCR. In November, the Delhi High Court closed proceedings on a plea challenging the Rajiv Gandhi government's ban on the book's import. The court stated that the failure of officials to present the relevant notification from October 5, 1988, led to the assumption that the notification did not exist. Maulana Kaab Rashidi, legal advisor for the Uttar Pradesh unit of Jamiat Ulama-e-Hind (AM), expressed concern over the book's reappearance in India. "If freedom of expression hurts someone's sentiments, it is a legal offence. 'The Satanic Verses' is a blasphemous book. Selling such a ...