When speaking publicly for the first time after the horrifying stabbing, the moderator who was on stage when Sir Salman Rushdie was assaulted disclosed the awful eye damage that had plagued him.
While holding Hadi Matar’s legs as he charged the platform and repeatedly stabbed The Satanic Verses author at Chautauqua in New York, Henry Reese suffered serious bruises and a tiny cut to his eye.
Sir Salman had emergency surgery after suffering terrible, permanently altering injuries, but it is now reported that he is awake and assisting authorities with their inquiries.
The founder of the City of Asylum, Mr. Reese, a former telemarketing entrepreneur from Pittsburgh, said to the Atlantic: “This is a really brazen assault on the essential ideals of freedom and means of settling disputes short of murder, through art, literature, and journalism.”
After the event, when asked how he was doing, Mr. Reese said to the BBC, “I’m doing fine, everything is going good – I’m doing fairly well.”
We should be worried about Salman, not only for himself but also for his impact on the globe, in my opinion.
When asked what the occurrence indicated for the significance of Sir Salman’s ideals, Mr. Reese added: “Our values have never been more vividly materialised.”
Salman Rushdie being attacked for his life is unbelievably… it’s impossible to convey what it feels to witness that happen in front of you. Our purpose is to safeguard authors who are in refuge.
Under the 2004-founded City of Asylum, Mr. Reese and his wife, Diane Samuels, have turned a Pittsburgh street into a refuge for persecuted authors and artists.
In 1997, the couple met Sir Salman when he spoke in Pittsburgh about his group, the International Parliament of Authors, which assisted in protecting writers in peril.
The two founders of their own residency programme in their hometown, Mr. Reese and Ms. Samuels, were subsequently motivated.
In 2005, Sir Salman went to a fundraiser there, and the two stayed close.
It would be “my dream,” according to Mr. Reese, to go back to the location from last Friday and speak with Sir Salman once again.
“That would be my goal to accomplish,” he added. “I would want to see that happen and to not be hindered in any way from completing what we set out to achieve.”
“To both demonstrate that these ideals will be upheld and that they are capable of being upheld.”
According to his family, Sir Salman has not lost his “usual feisty and rebellious sense of humour” despite his “life-changing” wounds.
The author was taken off a ventilator on Saturday despite having a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye.
This comes after Sir Salman’s possible involvement in the assault was denounced as “ludicrous” by Downing Street.
The statements followed an Iranian government official’s denial on Monday that Tehran was responsible for the author’s assault, which marked the nation’s first formal public response to the stabbing incident.
Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani told reporters: “We do not feel that anybody else in the incidence of the assault on Salman Rushdie in the US merits guilt and charges save him and his followers.”
No one has the authority to charge Iran in this matter.
The comments expressed and the support he got, he said, were directed at adherents of all faiths.
Hadi Matar, 24, the assailant of Sir Salman, has entered a not guilty plea via his attorney and is scheduled to appear in court in the US on Friday.
For more over 30 years, the acclaimed author has received death threats because of his book, The Satanic Verses.
When asked about the remarks from Tehran, the official spokesperson for the prime minister stated: “It is obviously absurd to say that Salman Rushdie was in any way responsible for this heinous assault on him.
Not only was he the target of this assault, but also the freedom of speech and expression. Additionally, the UK government stands with him and his family while also pledging to defend free expression worldwide.