NYT reports he was stabbed approximately 10 times.
This.
Yes, and no doubt the lawsuit by Rusdie (or his medical insurance carrier) against the Institute might cause them to make better judgement calls in the future.
But alas – judging from this report, they are more likely to decide instead to avoid having any ‘controversial’ speakers at all in the future.
I’m assuming that Rushdie would have known ahead of time what the security arrangements were or weren’t.
The people who have apologized for the latest apology have been sacked. We’re sorry.
Rushdie felt pretty trapped by British security and advocated for less. From reading Joseph Anton, I think he was aware of the risks lower security poses. He gets to make that choice on his own behalf.
It would be in character for Rushdie to not progress such a lawsuit, certainly if he was aware of the arrangements and agreed with them.
In other depressing, ironic and completely predictable news, JK Rowling sends her best wishes to Salman (they were co-signatories of the “Harpers Letter” )
and she gets a death threat in return telling her that she’s next.
A number of translators and publishers of The Satanic Verses have been attacked and/or killed over the years. The death sentence in the fatwa applied to more than just Rushdie.
“Fatwa” just refers to a ruling on Islamic law. For example, there was a fatwa issued last century which said that Muslims were allowed to drink Coke or Pepsi. So not synonymous with “license to kill”. Also, since there a multiple Muslim sects a fatwa is not necessarily binding outside of your sect. The Shia have a fatwa declaring the Shiite to be heretics (or maybe the other way around, or maybe reciprocal); clearly a Shiite would not obey that fatwa.
Shia and Shiite refer to the same group. I think you meant Sunni and Shia. Not sure who has the fatwa calling the other heretics.
I’ve been under the impression that of late the Shia leaders have been more inclined to calls for violence but I could be 100% wrong on that.
Yes, brain lock. Sunni and Shia.
Moderating:
No politics in breaking news threads.
Makes you wonder which century we’re living in!
More like which century they’re living in.
Yes, if only we weren’t unfortunately sharing the same one 
Agreed on all counts - I thought Joseph Anton was a terrific book. I admired the British government for guarding him for years, and at considerable expense, but Rushdie makes clear that protection was somewhat begrudging and not always helpful. Also, truth be told, at times in the book he comes off as a bit of a pompous jerk.
I bought and read The Satanic Verses when it first came out, as my FU to the theocrats who would try to silence anyone.
May Rushdie make as swift and complete a recovery as possible, and may his assailant be prosecuted to the fullest extent of the law.
This may also be of interest:
I had the impression Iran wasn’t actively pursuing the fatwa. They didn’t use their Intelligence service to locate him and send agents.
The fatwa was more of a terror tactic. Someday some random follower of Islam will strike.
It took quite awhile. But it hampered his life for all these years.
We called it stochastic terrorism when Trump did it. I see no reason that doesn’t also apply here.
And now in court: