The 24-year-old American was arrested immediately after he repeatedly stabbed the author of “Satanic Verses” at a conference in Chautauqua, New York.
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Posted on 08/18/2022 20:27 Updated on 08/18/2022 21:52
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The following attack on Salman Rushdie, the author of The Satanic Verses, which took place on 8/12/18.
24-year-old American Hadi Matar, who was arrested immediately after the events, is accused of stabbing the writer to death during a conference in Chautauqua, New York. He had already pleaded not guilty in a procedural hearing on Saturday. The judge decided to keep him in custody without bail ahead of a new appearance scheduled for September 7. Hadi Matar faces up to 25 years in prison for “attempted murder” and up to seven years for “assault”.
After a period of life support, Salman Rushdie was “on the road to recovery,” according to his agent Sunday. Since 1989, the writer has been the target of a fatwa (religious edict) by the Iranian Ayatollah Rouhollah Khomeini, who sentenced him to death after publishing the novel The Satanic Verses, considered blasphemous by some fundamentalist Muslims. Iran denied any involvement in the attack but took the opportunity to reprimand the writer: “Only Salman Rushdie and his supporters deserve blame,” the State Department spokesman said.