The Free Speech Union is horrified at the heinous attack on Salman Rushdie (75), the British-American novelist and essayist. The author suffered multiple stab wounds while giving a lecture in New York State, and the latest reports have confirmed that he is on a ventilator, has likely lost an eye, and was stabbed in the liver.

Rushdie had spent decades in hiding after publishing ‘The Satanic Verses’ (1989) a novel that saw Ayatollah Khomeini, the Supreme Leader of Iran, put a bounty on the author’s head for insulting the Muslim prophet. The book's Japanese translator was murdered.

'Rushdie and ‘The Satanic Verses’ was an early signal that the liberal West could no longer be relied upon to uphold progressive values such as freedom of speech. Incredibly at the time, even some authors suggested Rushdie at least partially brought the dire situation on himself,' said Free Speech Union spokesperson, Dane Giraud.

'The attack isn’t the result of Rushdie’s free speech; it is the result of censorship and the presumption the most intolerant in our societies have that they have a special right to silence those they disagree with.'

'Those who wanted Rushdie, and other authors to self-edit were kowtowing to thugs. Whenever authors, no matter who they are, are threatened with violence over the words they write and art they create, there should be one response and one response only: solidarity with the author.'

'Yes, words can 'harm'. They harmed the authority of the church leading to a far more progressive West. Words must be able to harm, or our society will become static. But this harm is not the same as violence, and the campaign to link the two, in order to justify speech restrictions, is false, cynical, and anti-modernist to its core.'

'We wish Salman Rushdie – a Free Speech hero - a speedy recovery.'

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