By Erik Ortiz -
NBC News
The young man suspected of stabbing Salman Rushdie when he was going to give a conference in New York was arrested for the crime of attempted second-degree murder for the attack on the novelist and second-degree attack for injuring the moderator of the event, according to reports. state police this Saturday.
The man, identified as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, was being held without bond at the Chautauqua County Jail and is expected to be arraigned on Saturday afternoon, said Jason Schmidt, U.S. District Attorney. county district.
An attorney indicated on his behalf that he pleads not guilty to the charges against him.
Salman Rushdie stabbing in New York comes after decades of Iranian death threats
Aug. 12, 202200:29
Local investigators say they are in contact with New Jersey officers "to better understand how the attack was planned and staged" and to determine whether further charges should be filed.
“These are the early stages of what we estimate will be a lengthy court proceeding,” Schmidt said in a statement.
"We will try to be as transparent as possible, always without affecting the investigation," he added.
[On video: This is how they controlled the man who attacked the Republican candidate for governor of New York]
Rushdie, 75, was stabbed in the neck and abdomen Friday morning and required surgery.
The writer was on stage giving a talk at the Chautauqua Institution, about 70 miles south of Buffalo, when the attacker confronted him, authorities said.
Videos spread on social networks show that chaos broke out in the auditorium after the attack.
"He didn't say a word, he didn't say anything," said Julia Mineeva-Braun, who was sitting in the fifth row, about the attacker.
She said that she initially saw Rushdie being attacked in the neck and then several times in the shoulder blade, before members of the audience ran to his aid.
Author Salman Rushdie during the Mississippi Book Fair in Jackson, Mississippi, on August 18, 2018.Rogelio V. Solis/AP
Rushdie was airlifted to a hospital in nearby Erie, Pennsylvania.
A clinic representative declined to comment on his health.
Rushdie's literary agent, Andrew Wylie, said Friday night that he suffered serious injuries to his liver, nerves in his arm and in his eye, The Associated Press reported.
An update on his health status was not immediately available.
Henry Reese, 73, who was also on stage to moderate the conversation, suffered minor injuries to his face during the attack, police said.
He was treated and released.
[“I am not going to remain silent”: the attorney general rejects the attacks against the FBI after the raid on Trump]
Writer Salman Rushdie is transported to a helicopter after being stabbed on stage before his scheduled speech at the Chautauqua Institution, Chautauqua, New York, on August 12, 2022.TWITTER @HoratioGates3 / via REUTERS
Rushdie created controversy for his
1988
novel
The Satanic Verses
, which personified the Islamic prophet Muhammad.
It was considered by some Muslims as blasphemy.
The book was banned in Iran, where the late leader, Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for Rushdie's death.
Rushdie, who was born in India and became a US citizen in 2016, was participating in the literature festival to talk about the United States as a haven for writers and artists in exile, the AP reported.
They arrest a subject who approached the school armed and several parents who wanted to rescue their children
Aug. 13, 202200:44
Authorities have not disclosed the motive for the attack.
A first analysis of Matar's social media profile shows he
was sympathetic to Shiite extremism and Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps,
or IRGC, an official with direct knowledge of the investigation said.
Matar was arrested after the attack when Chautauqua Institution staff and attendees rushed onto the stage.
The institute had beefed up its security for the event, and four other high-visibility ones, according to New York State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski, which explains why police officers were able to respond quickly to what was happening.
[They exhibit letters that the writer Gabriel García Márquez received from figures such as Bill Clinton]
“They asked for a law enforcement presence,” Staniszewski told reporters on Friday.
"And luckily, there we were."
The attack sparked criticism about the security measures and if they were enough considering that it was an event with a writer who has lived in hiding for years due to death threats against him.
The Chautauqua Institution said Saturday it would implement a no-bag policy at its amphitheater.
Leaders from around the world voiced their support for Rushdie after the attack, with some saying what happened threatens creative expression.
Rushdie is known for books that intertwine magical realism with historical allegory.
