Salman Rushdie: Man suspected of stabbing attack charged with attempted murder

Hadi Mattar, the man suspected of attacking novelist Salman Rushdie, has been formally charged with attempted murder and assault.

World

1 min read

The New Arab Staff & Agencies

13 August, 2022

Rushdie received death threats for years as his work was denounced as blasphemous [source: Getty]

The man suspected of attacking novelist Salman Rushdie on Friday has been charged with attempted murder and assault, prosecutors said on Saturday.

"The individual responsible for the attack yesterday, Hadi Mattar, has now been formally charged with Attempted Murder in the Second Degree and Assault in the Second Degree," Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said in a statement on Saturday.

"He was arraigned on these charges last night and remanded without bail," the statement added.

Salman Rushdie: Hezbollah say they knew nothing about attack

MENA

Live Story

The New Arab Staff

The acclaimed novelist was attacked at a book event in upstate New York on Friday.

Rushdie is on a ventilator and unable to speak after the assault.

Hadi Matar was 24-year-olds and from New Jersey. His family hails from the south Lebanon town of Yaroun, Yaroun mayor Ali Tehfe told Reuters.

A preliminary social media review found Matar to be "sympathetic to Shia extremism" and to Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) - but that his exact motive for attacking Rushdie was still unclear.