Salman Rushdie Able to Communicate After Removal of Mechanical Ventilator

[Image source=Reuters Yonhap News]

[Asia Economy Reporter Hwang Yoon-joo] Salman Rushdie (75), author of "The Satanic Verses," has reportedly improved enough to be taken off a ventilator and able to hold a conversation just one day after being stabbed.

On the 13th (local time), according to foreign media including the AP News Agency, Rushdie's fellow writer Atish Tashir tweeted that evening, "Rushdie has been taken off the ventilator and is talking (and even joking around)."

Rushdie's representative Andrew Wylie also confirmed this information but did not provide further details.

Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and abdomen by a man in his 20s who rushed the stage while Rushdie was preparing to give a lecture at a literary festival held in Chautauqua, New York, the previous day.

Wylie also said that Rushdie's arm nerves were severed, his liver was damaged, and he is expected to lose one eye.

Rushdie has faced decades of death threats after facing severe criticism from the Islamic world for allegedly depicting the Islamic prophet Muhammad irreverently in his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses."

He referred to the 1989 "fatwa" (Islamic legal ruling) issued by then-Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his assassination, saying, "The fatwa was serious. Fortunately, there was no internet back then. Iranians sent the fatwa to mosques by fax, but that is all in the past. Nowadays, my life has become very ordinary again."

When asked what he fears now, he added, "In the past, I would have said religious fanatics, but I no longer say that. The greatest danger we face now is the loss of democracy."