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| Photo Credit: AP. |
Hadi Matar, the suspect who fatally stabbed author of controversial novel “The Satanic Verses” Salman Rushdie has been charged with attempted murder and assault, police authorities said Saturday.
Hadi Matar
who was taken into custody approached the author as he was about to deliver a
speech at the Chautauqua institution in New York and attacked him. He is being
held without bail, the Washington Examiner reports.
“We have
been in touch with our counterparts in the State of New Jersey, where the
attacker is from, to share information and assist them in helping us to better
understand the planning and preparation which preceded the attack so that we
and the different agencies involved can determine what, if any, additional
charges should be asserted,” the Chautauqua County District Attorney Office
said in a statement, according to Washington Examiner. “We will try to be as
transparent as we can without compromising the case.”
Rushide stabbed in the eye
Rushdie who
was stabbed in the eye was assisted by dozens of members of the audience who
gasped and rushed to the stage, a three-minute video of the incident reveals.
Other audience members surrounded the author and began administering first aid
as he lay in his pool of blood.
What was the motives of Salman Rushdie's attacker?
It is not
clear if the suspect acted alone and what his motive were.
The attacker
confronted Rushdie on stage and punched or stabbed him 10 to 15 times as he was
being introduced, according to an Associated Press reporter who witnessed the
incident. The man was arrested as the 75-year-old author was pushed or fell to
the floor.
The
moderator at the event was also attacked and suffered a minor head injury,
police said, adding Rushdie was stabbed in the neck and later flown to a
hospital for treatment.
Rabbi
Charles Savenor who attended the event that hosted nearly 2,500 people said the
assailant ran onto the platform “and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first
you’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then it became abundantly clear in a few
seconds that he was being beaten,” adding that the attack lasted about 20
seconds, The Associated Press reported.
Rushdie is a
former president of PEN America, which said in a statement it was “reeling from
shock and horror” at the attack, according to The Associated Press.
“We can
think of no comparable incident of a public violent attack on a literary writer
on American soil,” CEO Suzanne Nossel said in a statement.
Rushdie “has
been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered,”
she added.
Who wrote "The Satanic Verses"?
Several
Muslims view Rushdie’s 1988 book “The Satanic Verses” as blasphemous. Violent
protests have been held around the world against the book
The novel
was banned in Iran, where the late Supreme Leader Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini
issued a 1985 fatwa, or edict, which called for Rushdie’s death.
A bounty of
over $6 million has also been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie, Washington
Examiner quoted the Index on censorship.
Rushdie was
placed on a British government protected program which included a round the
clock armed guard.