Sir Salman Rushdie off ventilator and speaks after stabbing in US

Sir Salman Rushdie has been taken off his ventilator and speaks as he recovers from being stabbed in the United States.

British-American writer Aatish Taseer said, in a since-deleted tweet, that the 75-year-old was “off the ventilator and talking (and joking)”, which was later confirmed by the author's agent Andrew Wylie.

Mr Wylie had earlier said Sir Salman was using the ventilator and was at risk of losing an eye after suffering injuries to his arm and liver in the attack.

The Indian-born Briton, whose novel The Satanic Verses sparked death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, 65 miles from Buffalo, in New York State when he was attacked.

The man accused of stabbing him pleaded not guilty Saturday to charges of attempted murder and assault, in what a prosecutor called a “pre-planned” crime.

An attorney for Hadi Matar, 24, argued on his behalf during a formal hearing in a Western New York court.

Matar appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white mask, with his hands handcuffed in front of him.

A judge ordered him held without bail after prosecutor Jason Schmidt told him that Matar had taken steps to deliberately put himself in a position to harm Sir Salman, obtaining an advance pass to the event in which he The author spoke and arrived a day earlier with a false identity card.

“This was a targeted, unprovoked and planned attack on Mr. Rushdie,” Mr. Schmidt said.

Public Defender Nathaniel Barone said authorities took too long to bring Matar before a judge, while leaving him “tied to a bench in the state police barracks.”

“He has this constitutional right to the presumption of innocence,” Mr. Barone added.

Sir Salman was stabbed at least once in the neck and once in the abdomen, police said, before being taken to hospital.

Sir Salman's publisher, Penguin Random House, said it was “deeply shocked and appalled” by the incident.

Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed while exercising a right that we should never stop defending”.

He added: “At this time my thoughts are with his loved ones. We all hope he is well.

Labor Party leader Sir Keir Starmer said: “Salman Rushdie has long embodied the fight for freedom and liberty against those who seek to destroy it.

“This cowardly attack on him yesterday is an attack on these values. The entire Labor Party is praying for his full recovery.

US National Security Advisor Jake Sullivan said: “Today the country and the world witnessed a reprehensible attack on writer Salman Rushdie. This act of violence is appalling.

“All of us in the Biden-Harris Administration are praying for his speedy recovery. We are grateful to the good citizens and first responders for helping Mr. Rushdie so quickly after the attack, and to law enforcement for their quick and effective work, which continues.

President of the Royal Society of Literature Bernardine Evaristo said she was happy to hear he was no longer on a ventilator, adding: “People will always disagree, but we have the right to express an opinion and artistic license should be a human matter. RIGHT.

“So – Yes to the argument; no to violence.

Sir Salman began his writing career in the early 1970s with two unsuccessful books before Midnight's Children, about the birth of India, which won the Booker Prize in 1981.

The author lived in hiding for many years in London as part of a British government protection program following the fatwa.

In 1998, the Iranian government withdrew its support for the death penalty and Sir Salman gradually returned to public life, even appearing in his own role in the 2001 film, Bridget Jones's Diary.

The Index on Censorship, an organization promoting freedom of expression, said funds had been raised to increase the reward for Sir Salman's assassination in 2016, stressing that the fatwa was still in force.

He was knighted in 2008 and, earlier this year, was made a Member of the Order of Companions of Honor in the Queen's Birthday Honours.