by Kanishka Singh
(Reuters) – Hadi Matar, the suspect who stabbed writer Salman Rushdie at a conference in New York state, has been charged with assault and attempted murder and remains in custody, the media said on Saturday. Chautauqua County District Attorney.
Indian-born author Salman Rushdie, the target of a “fatwa” from Iran in 1989 after the publication of his novel “The Satanic Verses”, was stabbed in the neck and chest during a conference on Friday. After several hours of surgery, Rushdie was put on life support and was unable to speak on Friday night.
In a statement, County Attorney Jason Schmidt said law enforcement is working to gather evidence about the build-up to the attack to determine if any other charges should be brought.
Police said on Friday they had not established the motive for the attack on Salman Rushdie, 75, who was scheduled to attend an artistic freedom conference when the assailant rushed onto the stage and is thrown at the novelist. There has been a bounty on Salman Rushdie’s head since 1989.
THE ATTACKER WOULD BE A SYMPATHISOR OF SHIITE EXTREMISM
Police identified the suspect as Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from Fairview, New Jersey, who purchased a ticket to the event at the Chautauqua Institution in western New State. York.
Reuters could not immediately establish whether Hadi Matar had a lawyer.
A preliminary review of Hadi Matar’s social media accounts by law enforcement showed he was a sympathizer of Shia extremism and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guards (IRGC), although no connection definitive has been found, according to NBC New York.
Hadi Matar was born in California and recently moved to New Jersey, according to an NBC New York report, which adds that he was in possession of a fake driver’s license.
On Friday night, FBI agents went to his last known address in Fairview, a Bergen County neighborhood just across the Hudson from Manhattan, NBC New York reports.
The New York police declined to comment on this information. New Jersey police did not immediately respond to a request for comment.
The Iranian government has not officially reacted to the attack on Salman Rushdie, but several hard-line Iranian newspapers have praised his attacker.
Ali Tehfe, mayor of Yaroun in southern Lebanon, said the suspect was the son of a man from the town. The suspect’s parents emigrated to the United States and he was born and raised there, the mayor added.
Asked if the suspect or his parents were affiliated with or supported the Iran-backed Hezbollah group in Lebanon, Ali Tehfe said he had “no information” about their political views.
A Hezbollah official told Reuters on Saturday that the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group had no further information on the attack on Salman Rushdie.
The stabbing has been condemned by writers and politicians around the world as an attack on freedom of expression.
(Report Kanishka Singh in Washington; with the contribution of Timour Azhari in Beirut; French version Jean-Michel Bélot)