Sir Salman Rushdie’s “feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact”, his son Zafar said as the author is being treated for severe injuries in hospital after being stabbed.
Earlier the author’s agent said he was on the road to recovery after the incident in New York on Friday.
Sir Salman, 75, has been taken off life support and is “on the road to recovery,” his agent Andrew Wylie said.
He wrote in an email: “He’s off the ventilator, so the road to recovery has begun. It will be long; the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction.”
Hadi Matar, 24, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder on Saturday after Sir Salman was stabbed multiple times before he was scheduled to deliver a lecture on the importance of freedom of expression.
Jason Schmidt, Chautauqua County District attorney, refused Matar bail. He is due to appear in court again on Friday. “This was a targeted, unprovoked, pre-planned attack on Mr Rushdie,” the judge said.
