The horrific knife attack that almost killed Salman Rushdie was an example of violence unleashed by unscrupulous political leaders, the author said on Jan. 25, warning that "everybody's in danger now" in the increasingly febrile United States.
Speaking at the premiere of the documentary "Knife: The Attempted Murder of Salman Rushdie," the writer pointed to events unfolding across the country, where a second protester was shot dead by federal agents 24 hours earlier.
"The idea of danger and violence is close to everyone now in this country," he told AFP at the Sundance Film Festival in Park City, Utah. "I think everybody's in danger now."
The film, directed by documentarian Alex Gibney, is the companion piece to Rushdie's "Knife," a memoir recounting the harrowing 2022 attack and its aftermath.
The British-American author was at an event in Chautauqua, New York when 24-year-old Hadi Matar leapt onto the stage and stabbed him 15 times.
The brutal assault left Rushdie with life-changing injuries, including the loss of his right eye.
Gibney's film uses graphic video of the assault on Rushdie, shot by event organizers and attendees, as well as intimate footage filmed by his wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, over six weeks as the author lay in hospital grievously wounded.
It also mixes in archival news reports and interviews with Rushdie detailing the furor in the Islamic world that greeted the publication of his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses."
The following year, Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, telling Muslims worldwide it was their religious duty to kill Rushdie.
For over a decade the author lived in hiding, protected by the British government, until a deal was reached in which the fatwa was officially rescinded in exchange for Britain's granting diplomatic recognition to Tehran.
As the immediate risk appeared to recede, Rushdie re-emerged, becoming something of a celebrity and continuing to create successful literary fiction. But the threat against him never vanished, and the animosity some bore him remained.
Hadi, who was sentenced last year to 25 years for attempted murder and assault, told a reporter before his trial that he believed Rushdie had "attacked Islam."
He admitted he had only read two pages of "The Satanic Verses."
