Iran's Ayatollah Khamenei praises stabbing of Salman Rushdie and says fatwa against Satanic Verses author was 'fired like a bullet that won't rest until it hits its target' as Islamic hardliners celebrate

• Salman Rushdie, 75, has been airlifted to hospital after being stabbed up to 15 times, including once in the neck at a literary fair in Chautauqua, New York
• New York State Police confirmed that a man had been arrested in connection with the stabbing 
• Rushdie wrote the Satanic Verses, which resulted in a culture war being sparked in 1988 in Britain 
• He was issued a fatwa, a death threat, by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini in February 1989
• Iran's current leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reportedly said that the fatwa against Rushdie was 'fired like a bullet'
  Supporters of Iran have been celebrating the callous attack on Salman Rushdie, which saw the author stabbed up to 15 times – including once in the neck.Rushdie, 75, was attacked by Hadi Matar, 24, as he was being introduced to the stage for the CHQ 2022 event in Chautauqua, near Buffalo in upstate New York, on Friday morning. He was airlifted to hospital and undergoing surgery in Erie, Pennsylvania.
  He was issued a fatwa – a death sentence - in 1989 by Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini after his book, the Satanic Verses, sparked and outcry with Muslims in Britain.
  The book supposedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed and The Koran, with Khomeini calling for Rushdie's death, and also called for Muslims to point him out to those who could kill him if they could not themselves.
  So far Iran has not officially commented on the attack against the author by Matar, who rushed the stage after approaching him from behind. It's believed that Matar is sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.
  But supporters of the government have praised the stabbing, saying that it is Khomeini's fatwa finally materializing into action after 33 years.Some said that they were hoping for the author, who was knighted in 2007 in Britain 'for services to literature', to die following the brutal attack.
  Others warned that those who were considered an enemy to the Islamic Republic would suffer a similar fate as him.
  A quote reportedly from Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, the current Iranian leader, was shared online with him saying the fatwa against Rushdie was 'fired like a bullet that won't rest until it hits its target.'
  
  Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against Rushdie in 1989 after his book, the Satanic Verses, sparked and outcry with Muslims in Britain. The book supposedly insulted the Prophet Mohammed and The Koran, with Khomeini calling for Rushdie's death, and also called for Muslims to point him out to those who could kill him if they could not themselves