An interviewer who sat alongside Sir Salman Rushdie on stage when he was brutally attacked describes a shocking moment.
As Henry Reese was preparing to host an interview with the novelist, an attacker armed with a knife rushed onto the stage and inflicted "life-changing" injuries.
A 75-year-old man was airlifted to hospital for surgery but continues to recover and is at risk of losing one of his eyes.
Reese himself, 75, also suffered facial injuries during the chaos at New York's Chautauqua Institute on Friday.
When asked how he felt after the incident, Reese told the BBC:
"I think our concern is with Salman. So it's about him, but it's also about what he means to the world.
When asked what this incident meant for the importance of Lord Salman's values, Mr. Rees added:
's mission is to protect writers in the sanctuary, and to see Salman Rushdie beaten for his life would be unimaginable...what a sight to see it happen before your very eyes.
Mr. Reese's ambition is to one day bring an end to the conversation he was supposed to have at an event about literary freedom in the United States.
He continued:
"To show that these values are both adhered to and likely to be adhered to." He said he retained his "usually spirited and rebellious sense of humor" despite his injuries, including a damaged liver and a severed nerve in his arm.
The Booker Prize winner now breathes without a ventilator.
His 24-year-old Hadi Matar, who was detained at the scene, pleaded not guilty through his lawyers to charges stemming from the assault and is scheduled to appear in US court on Friday.
Sir His Saruman endured decades of death threats and went into hiding for several years after the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses.
Partly inspired by the life of Muhammad, it was condemned as blasphemy by the Iranian Ayatollah and a fatwa issued instructing his followers to kill the writer .
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