Salman Rushdie has lost vision in one eye, hand disabled, says his agent

Author Salman Rushdie has lost vision in one eye and one of his hands is incapacitated, his agent has said, providing update on his health over two months after he was attacked in New York.

Rushdie, 75, had been stabbed repeatedly on August 12, on stage, ahead of an interview in upstate New York, triggering shock among the literary community.

"[His wounds] were profound, but he’s [also] lost the sight of one eye...." Rushdie's agent Andrew Wylie told Spanish newspaper El Pais. "He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut."

The writer suffered 15 more wounds to his chest, Wylie added.

Rushdie's attacker was 24-year-old New Jersey resident Hadi Matar. The authorities offered little information about his motives.

Rushdie, an Indian-born author, won international acclaim for his 1981 book Midnight's Children. 

But the following years brought him trouble and turmoil. His 1988 book The Satanic Verses, condemned by many Muslims as blasphemous, caused unrest in around the world. Ayatollah Khomeini, then the Supreme leader of Iran, had issued a fatwa or decree, calling for Rushdie to be killed. The fatwa forced Rushdie to go into hiding for a decade in the United Kingdom.