Rushdie lost sight in eye, use of hand after attack, agent says

Author Salman Rushdie lost sight in one eye and the use of one of his hands as a result of an attack in August, his agent said.

Rushdie "lost the sight of one eye," his agent Andrew Wylie told the Spanish paper El Pais on Saturday. "He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack."

Wylie would not say whether Rushdie was still in the hospital, but said the author is "going to live."

Rushdie, 75, was giving a talk about free speech in New York on Aug. 12 when he was stabbed. The suspect, 24-year-old New Jersey resident Hadi Matar, pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder.

Rushdie was reportedly targeted because of the 1989 Islamic fatwa issued by Iran's then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini ordering Rushdie to die for his book, "The Satanic Verses." 

Rushdie's agent said the attack was "totally unexpected and illogical."