Rushdie has lost vision in one eye and use of hand following stabbing, Wylie says

Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand after he was stabbed in New York in August, his agent Andrew Wylie has said.

The Booker Prize-winning writer suffered serious injuries after being stabbed on stage at a literary event at the Chautauqua Institution on 12th August.

"He had three serious wounds in his neck," Wylie told Spanish outlet El Pais. "One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso."

Though he declined to provide information about Rushdie’s current location, Wylie said "he is going to live, which is the important thing".

Rushdie has faced death threats over The Satanic Verses (Vintage), his 1988 novel, which is regarded by some Muslims as blasphemous. He went into hiding for nearly a decade following its publication. In 1989, Iran’s former leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death and a bounty of more than $3m was put on the author’s head.

Wylie told El País: "The principal danger that he faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed is from a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking.

"So you can’t protect against that, because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like John Lennon’s murder."

Hadi Matar, the 24-year-old charged over the attack, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder.