A 24-year-old man in New Jersey, allegedly sympathetic to Iran, was charged with the attempted murder ofSalman Rushdie
. was indicted on } Hadi Matar invited up to 10 acclaimed British-Indianauthorson stage Friday as he prepared to speak at the Chautauqua Institute in western New York. Accused of stabbing.
Mr. Matar, dressed in all black and wearing a black mask, was arrested by the New York State Police and Sheriff's Deputy after being stopped by the audience, according to witnesses.
Mr. Matar was carrying a backpack and electronic devices and he was in possession of a fake New Jersey driver's license when he was arrested, law enforcement officials said at a press conference.
Who is Hadi Matar?
Mr. Matar is a US citizen born in the United States to his parents who immigrated from Yalon in southern Lebanon.
Hadi Matar was arraigned in Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York on Saturday,
(Associated Press)
Yaroun, near the Israeli border, is home to the Iranian-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah, and portraits of Hezbollah and Iranian leaders are displayed throughout the village, according to the Associated Press.
An official in Yaroun said Mr Matar was Shia and held Lebanese citizenship, according to the news agency.
Law enforcement sources told NBC News Fardos and his 14-year-old twin sisters.
FBI agents spent several hours at the address on Friday.
Fardos told DailyMail.com that her daughter called her to let her know that an FBI agent was on her doorstep. She said she learned about the attack when
Federal agents seized items such as computers, books and knives from her son's basement apartment, she said.
Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old New Jersey man, has been charged with the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie
(Chautauqua County Prison)
Salman Rushdie is receiving treatment after being attacked Friday at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York
(AP )
Fardos said he disowned his son and said he was "responsible for his actions."
Mr. Matar's parents divorced in 2004, and his father returned to Lebanon.
After a month-long stay in Lebanon with his father in 2018, he seemed changed, his mother said.
A "popular and affectionate" son before the trip, when he returned home he became an introvert and moved into her basement apartment. He began to sleep during the day and stayed up all night.
"I expected him to come back motivated, finish school, get a degree and get a job. But instead he was locked up in the basement. He has changed a lot, he hasn't said anything to me or his sister for months," Fardos told DailyMail.com.
When Ms. Fardos asked her about her son's failure to introduce him to Islam at an early age, she noted that her son had become increasingly religious. I was.
"I didn't encourage my children to follow religion or force my son to do anything. I don't know anyone in Iran, but my whole family is here," she said. told DailyMail.com.
Yaron's father, Hassan Matar, has locked himself in his home and refuses to talk about the stabbing, Reuters reported. .
After his arrest, State Police Major Eugene Staniszewski told a news conference on Friday that the motive for the attack was unclear.
His social accounts on his media show he was sympathetic to Hezbollah and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, law enforcement sources said.NBC told the news.
Former spiritual leader of IranAyatollah Khomeini wrote about Mr. Rushdie after the publication of his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses. issued a fatwa. 1988.After the stabbing death of Japanese translator Hitoshi Igarashi in 1991 and the shooting of Norwegian publisher William Nygard outside his home, this threat has never been withdrawn. , Mr. Rushdie was forced into hiding for nearly ten years of his life. 1993.
The assault on Mr Rushdie was glorified in the Iranian media.
Nasser Kanani, a spokesman for the Iranian Ministry of Foreign Affairs, denied any link to the stabbing in his televised speech, denouncing the author and his supporters.
The charges facing Matar.
Mr. Matar appeared in court Saturday on charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault for bodily injury to event moderator Henry his Reese. did.
Salman Rushdie in 2018
(AFP via Getty Images)
He has pleaded not guilty. , released on bail at Chautauqua County Jail where he has been acquitted.
Mr. Rushdie was seriously injured in the attack. According to his agent Andrew Wiley, he suffered liver damage and nerve transection in his arm and eye.
After undergoing several surgeries at his UPMC his Hammot Hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, he was taken off the ventilator and is said to be speaking. But he is likely to lose one of his eyes, Wiley told The New York Times.
"His life-altering injuries are serious, but his usual spirited and rebellious sense of humor remains intact," said Zafar, Rushdie's son.
The author is still in critical condition, Zafar said.
Suspect says he has read only two pages of the Satanic Verse
Mr. Matar,New York He told the Post: Prison Video According to his interview, he admits that he had only read two pages of The Satanic Verses and was "surprised" that the author survived the knife attack.
Hadi Matar, 24, admitted in a video interview from behind bars at Chautauqua County Jail where he is being held on charges of attempted murder and assault.
"I read a few pages. I didn't read them all from beginning to end," he said in thepostsaying that Iran's leaders had called him to Muslims. said of reading Mr. Rushdie's controversial novel which saw him place a fatwa on the author's head with orders to kill him.
The suspect from New Jersey issued a fatwa praising Iranian leader Ayatollah, Ruhollah Khomeini, who said it was an attack. It was not clear if that was the cause.
"I admire Ayatollah. I think he is a great man. That's all I have to say about that," Mr Matar told the newspaper.
