FRANKFURT, Aug 13 (Reuters) – In an interview carried out simply weeks earlier than he turned into stabbed and severely wounded via way of means of an attacker in New York state, creator Salman Rushdie stated his existence turned into now “quite normal”, after having lived in hiding for years due to loss of life threats.
Rushdie talked withinside the interview with Germany’s Stern mag approximately the threats he sees to U.S. democracy. He additionally referred to as himself an optimist, and cited that the fatwa, a spiritual edict issued in Iran in 1989 that referred to as on Muslims round the arena to kill him for blasphemy, turned into said lengthy ago.
The interview is because of seem withinside the mag on Aug. 18, however Stern launched it on Saturday, an afternoon after the assault on Rushdie. The interview turned into carried out approximately weeks ago, the mag’s editorial workplace stated. examine more
Read : During Speech in New York Salman Rushdie Stabbed and Seriously Injured
The chief of Iran’s 1979 Islamic revolution, the past due Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued the fatwa after Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses” ee-e book turned into condemned as blasphemous. He went into hiding for almost a decade however in current years has lived quite openly.
Indian-born Rushdie, who have become a U.S. citizen in 2016 and lives in New York City, stated he turned into involved approximately threats to democracy withinside the United States.
These have been pushed via way of means of racism and hatred of the accomplishments of liberalism, and constituted “a initial degree of fascism,” he stated.
“(Former U.S. President Donald) Trump’s victory over fact is maximum critical there. His human beings accept as true with that they’re lied to via way of means of the others, now no longer via way of means of him,” he stated.
Trump claims falsely that the November 2020 presidential election that he misplaced to Joe Biden turned into stolen thru sizeable vote casting fraud.
Asked whether or not he turned into nostalgic, Rushdie, 75, stated, “Not necessarily. I love history, however whilst it worries my personal existence, I choose to appearance ahead.
New York police have diagnosed the suspect withinside the assault on Rushdie as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-antique guy from Fairview, New Jersey, who had offered a byskip to the occasion on the Chautauqua Institution. Police have now no longer installed a motive.
