Iran has celebrated author Salman Rushdie's stabbing attack as he was about to give a lecture with the Indian-born Brit fighting for his life in hospital.
The 75-year-old sustained nerve damage to his arm and damage to his liver and may lose his eye after the stage was stormed and he was stabbed repeatedly.
New York state police have named the suspected attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, who was taken into custody following the incident.
Sir Salman, whose The Satanic Verses novel led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was about to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua some 65 miles south-west of Buffalo, when the incident occurred.
Last night Iranian state media celebrated the attack on Rushdie by calling him a “depraved heretic-writer” - accusing him of blasphemous writings against Islam and prophet Muhammed.
The Asr Iran news site carried an often-cited quote by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei that said the "arrow" shot by the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who issued the fatwa, "will one day hit the target".
The Khorasan daily carried the headline: "Satan on the way to hell."
Mouthpiece for the Iranian regime, FARS News, branded Sir Salman an “apostate” and accused him of having “insulted the Prophet of Islam” with the book's “anti-religious content”.
The headline of the hardline Vatan Emrooz newspaper read: "Knife in Salman Rushdie's neck."
The Kayhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Iran's Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote: "A thousand bravos to the brave and dutiful person who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York.
"The hand of the man who tore the neck of God's enemy must be kissed."
While senior adviser to Iran's nuclear negotiating team, Seyed Mohammad Marandi, said he will not shed a tear for the writer.
He said Sir Salman “spouts endless hatred and contempt for Muslims and Islam”.
And Conservative Iranian pundit Keyvan Saedy tweeted his belief Sir Salman was going to be damned for his writings.
He said: “This deserves congratulation: God willing, we will celebrate Salman Rushdie going to hell soon.”
Sir Salman's agent Andrew Wylie said he is on a ventilator and unable to speak with his condition “not good”.
The author lived in hiding for many years in London under a British government protection programme after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death over The Satanic Verses which was deemed to be blasphemous against Prophet Muhammed.
Finally, in 1998, the Iranian government withdrew its support for the death sentence and Sir Salman gradually returned to public life.
The Index on Censorship, an organisation promoting free expression, said money was raised to boost the reward for Sir Salman's killing as recently as 2016, underscoring that the fatwa for his death still stands.
His other works include The Moor's Last Sigh and Shalimar The Clown, which was long-listed for the Booker.
He was knighted in 2008 and earlier this year was made a member of the Order of the Companions of Honour as part of the Queen's Birthday Honours.
Sir Salman's publisher Penguin Random House said they are "deeply shocked and appalled" by the incident.
Chief executive Markus Dohle said in a statement: "We are deeply shocked and appalled to hear of the attack on Salman Rushdie while he was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in New York.
"We condemn this violent public assault, and our thoughts are with Salman and his family at this distressing time."
