POLICE said they are investigating a report of an “online threat” made to JK Rowling after she tweeted her reaction to the stabbing of Salman Rushdie.
The Harry Potter author, 57, shared screenshots of a message from a user who had written “don’t worry you are next” in response to her tweet about Rushdie.
Rowling had said she felt “very sick” after hearing the news and hoped the novelist would “be OK”.
After sharing screenshots of the threatening tweet, she said: “To all sending supportive messages: thank you Police are involved (were already involved on other threats).”
A Police Scotland spokeswoman said: “We have received a report of an online threat being made and officers are carrying out enquiries.”
The same Twitter account also posted messages praising the man who attacked Rushdie on stage in New York state.
The tweet to Rowling, which came from an account in Pakistan, appeared to have been taken down by Sunday morning.
Rowling is among the authors and notable faces who have voiced their disbelief after Rushdie’s stabbing.
The Indian-born British author, 75, whose writing led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, was to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution when the incident occurred, leaving him with an apparent stab wound to the neck.
He is on a ventilator and may lose an eye and has sustained nerve damage to his arm and liver, according to the New York Times.
Authors at Edinburgh Book Festival were among those offering their support in the wake of the incident, with organisers inviting guests to begin their sessions by reading a sentence from one of Rushdie’s books in a show of solidarity.
On Friday, New York state police named the suspected attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, who was taken into custody following the incident.
Since the suspect was identified, people on social media have asked if the attack was in relation to Iran’s former leader Ayatollah Khomeini previously issuing a fatwa calling for his death.
The call was issued following the publication of Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses, which has been banned in Iran since 1988 as many Muslims view it as blasphemous.
