SIR SALMAN RUSHDIE has been taken off a ventilator and is able to talk after being stabbed at a book launch in the United States. 

The Indian-born British writer remains in hospital with serious injuries, but his agent Andrew Wylie confirmed today that he was now off the ventilator and talking. 

The 75-year-old, whose 1988 novel The Satanic Verses prompted the then supreme leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to issue a fatwa calling for the author’s murder, had been due to give a talk at an education centre in New York state about the importance of the US giving asylum to exiled writers when he was attacked on Friday. 

Hadi Matar, 24, pleaded not guilty on Saturday to charges of attempted murder and assault, which a prosecutor said had been pre-planned.

A lawyer entered the plea on his behalf during a formal hearing at a court in western New York.

The attack caused shock and outrage around the world, with leaders and fellow authors paying tribute to the award-winning author. 

US President Joe Biden said that he was shocked and saddened by the “vicious” attack and praised Sir Salman for “his refusal to be intimidated or silenced.” 

In Britain, Prime Minister Boris Johnson said that he was appalled by the attack, while Labour leader Sir Keir Starmer condemned it as cowardly. 

Sir Salman lived in hiding and under police protection for years after the 1989 fatwa in response to The Satanic Verses, which many Muslims interpreted as blasphemous.