Salman Rushdie in surgery after multiple stab wounds — Iran sets $3 million bounty for his murder The 75-year-old British writer is hooked up to a ventilator and is in serious condition. "Salman is likely to lose one eye, the nerves in his arm have been severed and his liver has been stabbed and damaged," said Rushdie's agent. The writer was attacked by Hadi Matar, 24 years old, who stabbed the writer about 10 times as Rushdie was preparing to give a lecture onstage at the Chautauqua County Education Center in New York. Matar's motives are being investigated. It is known that there was a $3 million bounty in Iran for Rushdie's murder because of his book Satanic Verses, which was considered anti-Islamic in the Muslim world.