Police investigating ‘online threat’ to J.K. Rowling over Salman Rushdie tweet – National | Globalnews.ca
Scottish police are investigating an “online threat” made against Harry Potter author J.K. Rowling after she tweeted her support for Salman Rushdie.
Rushdie, a fellow author, was stabbed repeatedly last Friday on Aug. 12 during a lecture in New York and suffered serious injuries.
The same day, Rowling, 57, tweeted that she was “feeling very sick right now” in response to the attack, to which a Twitter user replied, “Don’t worry you are next,” as reported by multiple outlets.
Rowling asked for support from Twitter moderators and shared screenshots of the Twitter user who made the threat praising Rushdie’s attacker. She also wrote that the police were involved and that she had been working with them on other threats.
On Sunday, Scottish police announced that they had begun an investigation into the tweet.
“We have received a report of an online threat being made and officers are carrying out enquiries,” said a Police Scotland spokeswoman.
As of Monday, the tweet in question appears to be removed and the account that posted the threat has been suspended.
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Rushdie, 75, was about to give a lecture on Friday when a man rushed the stage and stabbed him multiple times. The award-winning author has faced numerous death threats throughout his life since he published The Satanic Verses in 1988.
The Indian-born author suffered a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye, and was on a ventilator during the weekend, according to his literary agent Andrew Wylie. Reports say that Rushdie may lose his injured eye.
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Wylie confirmed Sunday that Rushdie is able to speak again and his “condition is headed in the right direction.”
Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, N.J., was arrested following the attack. He was arraigned on Saturday and pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges.
Prosecutors called the incident a “targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack.”
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