After the attack on Salman Rushdie, in which the author was injured, the suspect had to appear in court for the first time on Saturday. He is being held in custody on charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault. The 24-year-old pleads not guilty. What you know about the suspect and his motives and what the fatwa is all about.
Who is the arrested suspect? Police said he resided in Fairview, New Jersey. That’s a good six-hour drive from the crime scene in the eastern New York town of Chautauqua. The man was born in California, his parents are from Lebanon, according to the AP news agency. Nothing is known about education or jobs.
What do you know about your possible motive? There is no official information, and his lawyer has not commented either. The media and observers have found the first clues. Social media accounts attributed to the man show several photos of exponents of the Iranian regime. A forged driver’s license was also seized. This is, of all things, in the name of a former commander of Hezbollah, a terrorist organization in Lebanon that is supported by Iran.
What does this track mean? Even if not yet confirmed, the picture emerges of an apparently ardent supporter of the Iranian Revolutionary Guards – to put it simply, they form the hardliner front in Iran and have great influence, both economically, politically and militarily. Without wanting to blame the parents, the man’s migration background is also relevant: in southern Lebanon, the aforementioned Hezbollah is in charge.
Is the suspect affiliated with Hezbollah or the Iranian regime? A Hezbollah representative told Reuters on Saturday that they had no additional information about the man. The mayor of the family’s city of origin said he had no information on the parents’ or the suspect’s political affiliations. So far, no official statement has been made by the Iranian leadership. However, Iranian newspapers celebrated the act and congratulated the suspect, as reported by AP. A direct line is not yet known.
Was the man acting alone or on behalf of others? He obviously went into action alone, as evidenced by pictures and witness statements. Whether and to what extent he was involved in an environment that would have encouraged or tolerated his intention to commit the crime is currently one of the objects of investigation by the police. However, the previously public profile of a sympathizer or supporter of the Iranian Revolutionary Guard suggests that he may well have seen himself as a kind of soldier of Iran, influenced by extremist propaganda. In this context, the fatwa against Salman Rushdie may have played a role.
Legend:
A police officer stands guard near the building where Salman Rushdie’s alleged attacker lives in New Jersey.
Reuters/Eduardo Munoz
What is this fatwa against Salman Rushdie about? The then religious and political leader of Iran, Ayatollah Ruholla Khomeini – the suspect needed a photo of him as a profile picture – issued this fatwa, a kind of Islamic legal opinion, in 1989. A year earlier, Salman Rushdie had published his book The Satanic Verses. Khomeini found that this was an insult to Islam, Allah and his prophet Mohammed. Therefore Rushdie should be killed and all those who would contribute to the distribution of the book.
What happened after the fatwa was issued? Salman Rushdie went into hiding and lived under police protection for years. In fact, one Japanese translator of the book was killed, and other translators were attacked and injured. Rushdie was not to be silenced and has since published several books, 2019 “Quixotte”. Most recently, Rushdie no longer felt acutely endangered.
Is the fatwa still valid today? With the death of Khomeini, many believed that the matter was settled. However, his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was approached about it around 2017 – and confirmed the fatwa. The validity of the fatwa is also confirmed on the English-language Twitter account «Khamenei_ir», which is apparently operated by the Iranian regime. The corresponding tweet is no longer available after the account was temporarily blocked, but there are several screenshots and an AP report on it.
Also, has a bounty been put on Salman Rushdie’s head? Yes, originally it was $1 million and has been increased to over $3 million. Behind it is not the state of Iran directly, but a private foundation that, according to observers, is supported by the state. However, this is likely to be more propaganda intended to reflect the actions of the USA, in the sense of “if you offer money for tips on terrorists, we can do that too”.
Could the suspect have acted for the money? That seems unlikely at this point, because even if he had escaped, how would he get a money transfer from sanctioned Iran? In other cases of terrorist attacks, families of assassins have been “rewarded” with sums of money, but in this case the fatwa and Iran’s anti-Western propaganda are more likely to be in the foreground.