New York Police Department apprehended the Indian-born author Salman Rushdie's attacker on Friday, APA reports citing Teletrader.
The attacker was identified as Hadi Matar, aged 24, from Fairview, New Jersey. Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and abdomen as he was preparing to give a lecture in New York, after which he was flown to a hospital for surgery. The motive for the attack remains unclear.
The author's book "The Satanic Verses" drew criticism from Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who demanded Rushdie be executed over it.
Earlier on Friday, the United Kingdom outgoing Prime Minister Boris Johnson expressed his outrage over the incident.
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Salman Rushdie -- a celebrated author and winner of the world's top literary prizes -- was attacked on stage Thursday before giving a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, a witness says, APA reports citing CNN.
A man on the stage was seen "punching or stabbing" the novelist before the event, according to an AP reporter who witnessed the attack.
Medical staff and police were called to the amphitheater, according to a Chautauqua spokesperson who would not elaborate or confirm details about the incident.
A witness in the audience told CNN he saw Rushdie attacked on stage.
The witness could not confirm what was used in the attack, adding that he was 75 feet from stage.
Rushdie's book "The Satanic Verses" earned him a death sentence in a fatwa from Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989, the year after the book was published.
Some Muslims found the book sacrilegious and it is banned in the country. Rushdie spent a decade under British protection after the fatwa was issued against him.
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