ENTERTAINMENT NEWS – Herald Democrat heralddemocrat.com - get the latest breaking news, showbiz & celebrity photos, sport news & rumours, viral videos and top stories from heralddemocrat.com Daily Mail and Mail on Sunday newspapers.
LONDON (AP) Writer Salman Rushdie has made a public speech, nine months after being stabbed and seriously injured onstage, warning that freedom of expressio
m Writer Salman Rushdie delivered a speech nine months after being stabbed and seriously injured onstage, warning that freedom of expression is under severe threat in the West. Rushdie delivered a video message to the British Book Awards, where he was awarded the Freedom to Publish award Monday evening, a prize acknowledging "the determination of authors, publishers and booksellers who take a stand against intolerance, despite the ongoing threats they face." Rushdie, 75, looked thinner than before the attack and wore glasses with a tinted lens. He was blinded in his right eye and suffered nerve damage to a hand when he was attacked at a literary festival in New York state in August. The alleged assailant has pleaded innocent to charges of assault and attempted murder. "We live in a moment, I think, at which freedom of expression, freedom to publish, has not in my lifetime been under such threat in the countries of the West," Rushdie said. "Now I am sitting here