Sir Salman Rushdie brought a stabbing attack that left him with "life-changing" injuries on himself, Iran has said.
The country's foreign ministry spokesperson Nasser Kanaani said on Monday that "Salman Rushdie and his supporters are to blame for what happened to him".
He added: "Freedom of speech does not justify Salman Rushdie's insults upon religion and offence of its sanctities."
Iran has no other information about Rushdie's assailant except what has appeared in media, Mr Kanaani said.
The author, 75, was attacked on stage before a speech in New York state on Friday. He underwent hours of surgery in hospital and was taken off a ventilator on Saturday.
Sir Salman spent nearly a decade in hiding after the publication in 1988 of his work The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims consider to be blasphemous.
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A fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to kill him was issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian leader, a year later.
It has been reported that the religious leader had never read Sir Salman's book.
While such edicts can be revoked, Khomeini's successor Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei said later in 1989 that the decision about Sir Salman had been fired like a "bullet" that would "one day sooner or later hit the target."
He confirmed that the fatwa was still in effect as recently as 2017.
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Kathy Hochul condemns the attack on Salman Rushdie which occured as he was due to give a lecture in New York.
Sir Salman in 'critical condition' but off ventilator
Zafar Rushdie said his father remained in a "critical condition" but was taken off a ventilator on Saturday.
"Though his life-changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact," he said in a statement.
Sir Salman was stabbed about 12 times, including in the face and neck, the Chautauqua County District Attorney's Office said.
One of the wounds in the facial area caused a puncture to his eye. Another, to the abdomen, caused a puncture of the author's liver.
There were also stab wounds to other areas of the abdomen and chest area.
Full statement from Zafar Rushdie
Following the attack on Friday, my father remains in critical condition in hospital receiving extensive ongoing medical treatment.
We are extremely relieved that yesterday he was taken off the ventilator and additional oxygen and he was able to say a few words.
Though his life changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty & defiant sense of humour remains intact.
We are so grateful to all the audience members who bravely leapt to his defence and administered first aid along with the police and doctors who have cared for him and for the outpouring of love and support from around the world.
We ask for continued patience and privacy as the family come together at his bedside to support and help him through this time.
Earlier on Sunday, in an update on his condition, his literary agent, Andrew Wylie, confirmed Sir Salman had been taken off the ventilator, saying: "The road to recovery has begun.
"It will be long; the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction."
With his long black hair flowing beneath a traditional cap and over his masked face, a Taliban guard, machine gun in hand, indicated I should follow the doctor.
I realised then we were to have his company for the duration of our stay.
A peculiar development and an unusual experience, but one that was to be dwarfed by what we were about to see in the heart of Afghanistan's biggest and best children's hospital, in the centre of the capital Kabul.
"We have many wards that I need to show you," Muhammad Iqbal, the head of doctors, at the Indira Gandhi Children's Hospital said, leading me up a series of stairs.
"The first wards are intensive care and critical care, follow me."
Image:'We have many wards that I need to show you,' Muhammad Iqbal told Sky News
We entered the corridors leading to the wards, groups of women - mothers - immediately covered their faces, moving aside or looking for somewhere to stand out of the way.
I could hear the crying children from down the corridor and as I peered through the windows of the wards, I was taken aback by the sheer number being treated.
The ward wasn't just full, it was bursting. Baby cots designed for one child had two or three squeezed in together.
Doctors and nurses buzzed around the room, checking vital signs and trying to soothe the crying babies.
I've seen such poor medical facilities in 20 years of reporting from Afghanistan, I assumed I couldn't be shocked. In the provinces of the country, basic medical care has been the norm for decades.
It wasn't the condition the children were being kept in, it wasn't really the numbers of children - many desperately ill - it was the fact that this is happening in the very best state hospital in the whole of the country.
Worse still was the testimony of doctor after doctor that they can't keep children with treatable diseases alive because even here they haven't got enough medicine, supplies or equipment to care for their patients properly.
Afghanistan is in the midst of a medical crisis that is worsening by the day, exacerbated by an economy in freefall, the freezing of the country's assets and the drying up of hundreds of millions of dollars of aid that flowed here for two decades, because the Taliban has taken control.
The Indira Gandhi hospital is testament to this.
There are more than 500 patients being treated at this hospital - they've room for 300.
The hospital nearly shut down last winter, but an injection of aid from the International Committee of the Red Cross provided much needed immediate relief and resource - but it's not nearly enough.
Ward after ward is the same, jam-packed with really poorly infants and children.
"Eighty percent of middle-class families used to go to private hospitals for treatment, now they came here, they can't afford to go anywhere else," Dr Muhammad Iqbal told me.
"There's a need for some good drugs you don't purchase from outside a hospital, this is the problem, our people are very poor.
"There's a need for ventilators, we don't have ventilators, CPAP machines, and this is a very [big] need for an ICU."
Image:Dr Salahuddin with the three children, Baheer, Mehrama and Sahar
In one cot, three children, Baheer, Mehrama and Sahar, all have cerebral palsy, along with other medical complications.
"This one is CP, this one is CP, this one is CP… three of them CP, cerebral palsy," their doctor explained pointing at each of their near lifeless bodies.
"It's serious," Dr Salahuddin adds.
Their chances of survival are low - there is no treatment for cerebral palsy available in Afghanistan.
Image:Muslimah, 16, and her brother Mansoor Ahmad
Aziz Ullah struggles to pick his 16-year-old daughter Muslimah up out of her wheelchair and place her next to her brother, who is one.
They looked for help and medical treatment in two other provinces, Zabul and Kandahar, before they came here.
"I'm worried for her," Aziz tells me in a gentle voice.
"The doctors told me the disease recently developed in her, this is my fourth child with this condition."
Like two of his children who have already died, Muslimah and her brother Mansoor Ahmad's chances of survival are already slim.
"The chance of [survival] is too low, I mean 80 percent chance of dying," Dr Sharif Ahmed Azizi explained.
"We can do nothing, no, because we don't have any facilities for these patients.
"For the poor patients we don't have any good resources for the patients, because from one side we have got more patients. I mean the load of patients is too high, from every side of Afghanistan comes the patients here, and the facilities too low."
I asked him how it felt to come to work every day knowing there is little they can do for children like Muslimah.
"Unfortunately, we can do nothing for these patients, for these kinds of patients… there is no other way."
Many of the children being cared for have serious illnesses that could be successfully treated.
Staring from her hospital bed into the distance, with her mother sitting next to her, 12-year-old Amina has cerebral meningitis.
They're struggling to keep her alive. It's not a lack of skill here, it's a lack of resources.
The hospital was spotless - and wherever we looked it was clear that the doctors, nurses and hospital staff were very dedicated.
But without the very basic resources it needs, it's on its knees.
At one point we were separated from Dr Iqbal, I went to see if he had been called to his office. I asked one of the staff if the senior doctor was there. After a few moments, he gestured for me to follow him inside another office.
Inside were two black-turbaned, long bearded men, clearly hardcore Taliban, sitting and talking.
I apologised for intruding and said I was looking for the senior doctor and prepared to make my exit.
"I am a doctor, in fact I am a specialist surgeon, and I am in charge here," one of the men said in perfect English.
"You are welcome."
Never make any assumptions in Afghanistan, I reminded myself.
Image: Dr Muhammad Haseeb Wardak is the hospital's president
Dr Muhammad Haseeb Wardak is the hospital's president.
He agreed to a quick interview, and I asked him if they needed international money to help with the hospital's problems.
"We are calling on the international community to increase their support to us and continue this support," he told me.
"[The United States] should unfreeze our money, this is our hope, our demand."
He added: "This hospital has been here for 50 years, and we want more facilities at the hospital, and we need more staff and equipment, so we can treat patients who come here from all over Afghanistan."
The impasse between the Taliban and the international community over human rights, particularly women's rights, continues to be a major sticking point. And it's at the root of much of the country's problems.
As we walked the corridors of the hospital, a woman grabbed us. She wanted help to buy baby formula for her seven-month-old daughter, Fatima.
Wearing the traditional blue Afghan burqa, she looked straight at me and begged for help.
That is unusual in today's Afghanistan - for a woman to engage so directly with a man, especially one accompanied by an armed Taliban guard, in a public place.
It indicates just how desperate she is.
Malnutrition across Afghanistan is out of control. This hospital has had to expand its malnutrition ward to treat more and more young patients.
Image: Safiya is severely underweight
The worst affected come here from all over the country - if they can make it.
Seven-year-old Safiya has just arrived with her family. They've travelled from Paktia province, around six hours drive from Kabul.
Safiya is severely underweight. Her face is skeletal - she struggles to sit up on the hospital bed.
But for the first time in weeks, the family has hope. Her condition is improving after just one day here.
"I am hopeful," her mother told me. "She is already much better than she was before we arrived."
But for many other parents in the malnutrition ward, there is nothing but despair.
With his mother weeping at his bedside, tiny two-year-old Shereen Khan lies motionless on his side. He has what appeared to be bed sores all over his back, and tubes attached to his nose.
His mother, Gulbashra, a cleaner from Helmand province, is terribly poor.
Choking back tears, she explains her little boy, her only child, got ill four months ago, but she had to leave him at home to go to work.
Shereen deteriorated, and she is keeping a constant vigil at his bedside, hoping he pulls through.
Like so many in Afghanistan, Gulbashra doesn't care who's to blame - she just wants her son to live.
A first victory of the season lifts Forest up to 10th on three points, while back-to-back defeats leave West Ham in 19th.
More drama on Monday?
A thrilling Matchweek isn't over yet, with Liverpool and Crystal Palace both looking to secure their first win of the season when they meet at Anfield on Monday.
Darwin Nunez will be hoping to earn a first Premier League start for the Reds after coming off the bench to produce a goal and an assist in last weekend's 2-2 draw at Fulham.
Antony Blinken has denounced Iranian state institutions for inciting violence against Salman Rushdie and then gloating about the author’s attempted murder as he remained in critical condition following an attempt on his life at a literary event.
The US secretary of state on Sunday directly linked the attack to Tehran’s rhetoric, in more pointed language than President Joe Biden used shortly after a man stabbed Rushdie.
“Specifically, Iranian state institutions have incited violence against Rushdie for generations, and state-affiliated media recently gloated about the attempt on his life. This is despicable,” Blinken said.
Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses, first published in 1988, generated controversy for how it depicted the Islamic Prophet Mohammed. The book was banned in Iran and in 1989, the supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to kill Rushdie. The writer went into hiding for years following the death threat.
He was attacked on Friday in Chautauqua county, New York at an event where he was scheduled to discuss the US “as asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression”. Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey, was charged with attempted murder and assault following the attack.
Biden on Saturday has expressed his shock at the assault, saying Rushdie embodied “essential, universal ideals”.
Iran Daily, a state-run newspaper, praised the attack as an “implementation of divine decree” on Sunday, according to the Associated Press.
The AP reported that Jason Schmidt, the district attorney for Chautauqua county, on Saturday suggested larger forces were at play in the attack.
“We understand that the agenda that was carried out yesterday is something that was adopted and it’s sanctioned by larger groups and organisations well beyond the jurisdictional borders of Chautauqua county,” Schmidt said.
When asked if Matar had any links to the Iranian government, the White House National Security Council directed the Financial Times to “law enforcement for what remains an ongoing investigation”.
The FBI said it was assisting local law enforcement and working with partners in the UK, as Rushdie is a dual citizen of the US and UK.
Rushdie’s son Zafar said his father was in critical condition in a hospital on Sunday, but had been taken off a ventilator and was able to say a few words.
“Though his life-changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact,” Zafar Rushdie said in a statement.
Rushdie’s agent Andrew Wylie said the author “will probably lose one eye; the nerves in his arm were severed; and his liver was stabbed and damaged”, but on Sunday said the writer’s condition was “headed in the right direction”.
Police in Scotland said they were investigating a report of an “online threat” made to the author JK Rowling after she expressed support for Rushdie on Twitter.
The Harry Potter author said she felt “very sick” after hearing the news and hoped Rushdie would “be OK”. She shared screenshots of a message received in response that stated: “Don’t worry you are next.”
After sharing the screenshots she said: “To all sending supportive messages: thank you police are involved (were already involved on other threats).” A spokesperson for Scotland’s police said a report of an online threat had been received and officers were “carrying out inquiries”.
US lawmakers demanded more information on the potential threat to national security posed by Donald Trump’s hoarding of classified documents, as the fallout from the unprecedented search at the home of the former president reverberated through Washington.
The comments by Democrats and Republicans on Sunday were among the first reactions from Congress to the release on Friday of the search warrant presented by the FBI on the day of the visit on August 8, revealing that Trump was being investigated for serious violations of the law related to national defence, the mishandling of government material and obstruction of justice.
They highlighted the sharp partisan divide with regards to Trump’s treatment by US law enforcement, with Democrats focusing on the legal gravity of his behaviour and Republicans sceptical and critical of the search.
Adam Schiff, the top Democrat on the House intelligence committee, has asked the director of national intelligence to review the harm to American interests — formally known as a damage assessment — resulting from Trump’s decision to hold on to a trove of sensitive material after leaving the White House in early 2021.
“What is, to me, most disturbing here is the degree to which . . . it appears to be wilful, on the president’s part — the keeping of these documents after the government was requesting them back. And that adds another layer of concern,” Schiff said.
Republicans, many of whom have rushed to Trump’s side and attacked the Department of Justice, the FBI and US attorney-general Merrick Garland over the past week, asked federal authorities to release the affidavit in support of the search warrant. Affidavits, which typically remain under wraps throughout a federal investigation, contain details on the reasons why the DoJ asked a federal judge to approve the search.
“All Garland has to do is comply with the laws, provide this information to us, let us look. Show us the goods,” Mike Turner, the top Republican on the House intelligence committee, said on CNN. “We need to determine, is this a national security threat? And . . . was there abuse of discretion by attorney-general Garland?,” he said.
“I think it’s very important long-term for the justice department, now that they’ve done this, that they show that this was not just a fishing expedition — that they had due cause to go in and to do this, that they did exhaust all other means. And if they can’t do that, then we’ve got a serious problem on our hands,” Mike Rounds, a Republican senator from South Dakota, told NBC.
Trump has maintained that the search was a politically motivated stunt, claiming to have declassified all the material before leaving office, though there is no record of such a step. According to the inventory of 45 items recovered by the FBI at Trump’s Mar-a-Lago estate in Florida, 11 were described by the authorities as being either top secret, secret, classified, or confidential.
On Sunday, the former president said the boxes retrieved by the FBI contained items protected by attorney-client privilege. “I respectfully request that these documents be immediately returned to the location from which they were taken,” he wrote on his Truth Social account.
The harsh criticism from the former president and his Republican allies has raised fears of violence against the FBI and DoJ. The Department of Homeland Security and the FBI issued a joint bulletin on Friday about the potential for attacks on law enforcement personnel and facilities across America as anger has flared among Trump’s conservative base of supporters who already deeply mistrust the federal government.
The White House has sought to distance itself from the search of Trump’s property and continued to do so on Sunday. Even when asked to comment about the latest revelations that the material recovered from Trump may pose a risk to national security, Karine Jean-Pierre, the White House press secretary, said: “We do not interfere. We do not get briefed. We do not get involved.”
But congressional Democrats were less restrained.
“When I look at classified documents, I’ve got to go in a special room. I can’t even wear my Fitbit. You can’t bring staff with you. And that’s because these documents not only contain our nation’s top secrets but because countries that will do us harm, do harm to our own citizens, we don’t want them to get a hold of them in any way,” said Amy Klobuchar, the Democratic senator from Minnesota, told NBC.
“That’s why it is so important that these documents remain in safe locations. And Mar-a-Lago, where you can check out croquet sets and tennis rackets and golf clubs, that’s not one of them,” she added.
At least eight people have been injured after a gunman opened fire on a bus near the Western Wall in Jerusalem's Old City, Israeli officials say.
The suspect opened fire as the pilgrims were returning from prayers at the holy site. Two people, including a pregnant woman, are in a critical condition.
The gunman fled but is now said to have turned himself in.
The Western Wall is one of the holiest sites in Judaism. Thousands travel to pray there every year.
Israeli emergency services said the gunman targeted a bus near King David's Tomb and a car park near the Western Wall.
The driver, Daniel Kanievsky, told local media his bus was full at the time of the shooting.
"We opened the ramp for someone on a wheelchair, and then the shooting started. Everyone got down on the floor, screaming. I tried to escape, but the bus couldn't drive with the ramp open," he said.
Video on social media showed heavily armed police at the scene and local media reported that worshippers had been briefly prevented from leaving the Western Wall compound.
The pregnant woman was shot in the stomach. She had an emergency Caesarean operation, with the baby reported to be in a serious, but stable, condition.
A man with gunshot wounds to the head and neck also remains critical.
Media reports say four of the injured were members of the same family visiting Israel from New York.
The gunman is said to be a Palestinian resident of East Jerusalem.
In a statement, Israeli Prime Minister Yair Lapid pledged that anyone involved in the attack would "pay a price for any harm to our civilians".
The attack comes a week after 47 people were killed in the Gaza Strip over three days as Israeli forces targeted leaders of the Palestinian Islamic Jihad (PIJ) and militants fired more than 1,000 rockets into Israel.
The militant group says it lost 12 fighters. Gaza's health ministry said the others were civilians, including at least 17 children.
Israeli officials have said many civilians were killed by PIJ rockets that failed to clear Gaza. They have promised to investigate civilian deaths caused by Israeli fire.
Several Israelis sustained minor injuries as a result of PIJ rockets, most of which were intercepted by the country's Iron Dome missile defence system.
Sir Salman Rushdie was stabbed about 12 times - including in the face and neck, a US district attorney's office has said.
One of the wounds in the facial area caused a puncture to Sir Salman's eye, the Chautauqua County District Attorney's Office said.
Another, to the abdomen, caused a puncture of the author's liver.
There were also multiple further stab wounds to the abdomen and chest area.
The 75-year-old was airlifted to hospital and underwent hours of surgery following the attack ahead of a lecture he was due to give in New York state on Friday afternoon.
Witness Julia Mineeva Braun told Sky News a man had appeared "all of a sudden from the left-hand side of the stage... (dressed) all in black.
"It was very quick... we thought he was fixing his microphone, and then we saw the knife. He started stabbing him in the neck first… and Mr Rushdie got up and started running. We're still in shock."
Banned
Sir Salman, who lives in New York City and became an American citizen in 2016, was due to speak to Henry Reese, from the City of Asylum organisation, a residency programme for writers living in exile under threat of persecution.
They were expected to discuss America's role as an asylum for writers and other artists in exile and as a home for freedom of creative expression.
His fourth book, The Satanic Verses, was banned in 1988 in a number of countries with large Muslim populations, including Iran, after it was considered by some to contain blasphemous passages.
In 1989, Iran's then leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Sir Salman's death.
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In 2017, Sir Salman Rushdie told Sky News that threats were 'pretty much' over
Prime ministerial hopeful Rishi Sunak has called for Iran's Revolutionary Guard to be officially designated a terrorist organisation following the brutal attack.
He told the Sunday Telegraph the stabbing should be a "wake-up call for the West".
Iranians reacted with both praise and concern over the attack.
'I am happy he was attacked'
Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman in Tehran, told the Associated Press: "I don't know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam.
"This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities."
Others, however, expressed fears that Iran could become even more cut off from the world as tensions remain high over its tattered nuclear deal.
"I feel those who did it are trying to isolate Iran," said Mahshid Barati, a 39-year-old geography teacher. "This will negatively affect relations with many - even Russia and China."
