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Editorial: Stabbing of Salman Rushdie another brutal reminder about the importance of freedom of ideas

EditorialThe West Australian
FILE - Author Salman Rushdie appears at a signing for his book "Home" in London on June 6, 2017. Rushdie was attacked while giving a lecture in western New York. An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage Friday at the Chautauqua Institution as Rushdie was being introduced. (Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP, File) Grant Pollard
Camera IconFILE - Author Salman Rushdie appears at a signing for his book "Home" in London on June 6, 2017. Rushdie was attacked while giving a lecture in western New York. An Associated Press reporter witnessed a man storm the stage Friday at the Chautauqua Institution as Rushdie was being introduced. (Photo by Grant Pollard/Invision/AP, File) Grant Pollard Credit: Grant Pollard/Grant Pollard/Invision/AP

The violent stabbing of Salman Rushdie in New York over the weekend is another brutal reminder about the importance of freedom of ideas and expression.

While he remains in hospital with serious injuries, it was reported on Sunday that The Satanic Verses author was thankfully taken off a ventilator and able to talk, a day after he was attacked as he prepared to give a lecture.

The 75-year-old, who was born in India and has since lived in Britain and the US, suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye and it’s believed he could lose the injured eye.

The award-winning author has faced death threats for more than 30 years for The Satanic Verses, with many Muslims regarding as blasphemy a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Mohammed, among other objections. Rushdie’s book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death in 1989.

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Khomeini died that same year but the fatwa remains in effect. Iran’s current supreme leader, Khamenei, never issued a fatwa of his own withdrawing the edict. But Iran in recent years hasn’t focused on the writer and Rushdie has lived a relatively open life, which makes the attack even more shocking. It is unbelievable to think that after all this time he is nearly killed for writing a book.

Rushdie’s courage and longtime advocacy of free speech, despite the risks to his own safety, have earned him praise from across the globe and many lined up to pay tribute to him following the attack.

Writer and longtime friend Ian McEwan called Rushdie “an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world”.

Anthony Albanese was among world leaders offering his thoughts, branding the attack an assault on global freedom. “Terrible news of the sickening and cowardly attack on Salman Rushdie in New York,” the Prime Minister said.

“This senseless violence against a celebrated author is also an assault on global freedom of expression and deserves unequivocal condemnation.”

Joe Biden issued a statement hailing the author as standing “for essential, universal ideals”. “Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear,” the US President’s statement added about Rushdie. “These are the building blocks of any free and open society. And today, we reaffirm our commitment to those deeply American values in solidarity with Rushdie and all those who stand for freedom of expression.”

At The West Australian, we will always fight for freedom of speech, because it really is the most sacred thing society has and it is also the very reason we can do our job each day.

As Rushdie once said: “A poem cannot stop a bullet. A novel can’t defuse a bomb.

“But we are not helpless ... stories are at the heart of what’s happening ... we must work to overturn the false narrative of tyrants ... by telling better stories.”

Responsibility for the editorial comment is taken by WAN Editor-in-Chief Anthony De Ceglie

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