Salman Rushdie was disconnected from the ventilator and talked to his doctors
According to the district attorney, Hadi Mater - the attacker - obtained an early entry permit for the lecture that the author was about to give and arrived a day earlier holding a fake identity card: "It was a pre-planned attack"
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08/14/2022
Sunday, August 14, 2022, 10:00 a.m. Updated: 11:17 a.m.
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On video: the writer Salman Rushdie, author of the book "The Devil's Verses", was stabbed on stage at a conference in New York (Reuters)
Writer Salman Rushdie was taken off the ventilator and spoke with his doctors yesterday (Saturday), his agent confirmed.
US President Joe Biden praised Rushdie's courage and expressed shock at his attack.
"He was disconnected from the ventilator and talking (and joking) with his doctors," tweeted writer Atish Tazir.
Rushdie's agent, Andrew Whaley, confirmed the information.
President Biden praised Rushdie for his "refusal to bow to threats" and said that the writer represents principles of truth, courage and immunity.
He added that he "was shocked when he heard about the brutal attack."
Rushdie's book "The Devil's Verses", which reached number one on the bestseller lists after a fatwa was imposed on the author in 1989, is now attracting renewed interest - and as of yesterday afternoon, reached number 13 on Amazon.
Driver's license of Hadi Meter, the attacker (photo: official website, Twitter)
Eddie Mater's house in New Jersey (Photo: GettyImages)
District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Saturday that Rushdie's assailant planned the attack, obtained early admission to a lecture the author was about to give and arrived a day earlier carrying a fake ID.
"It was a pre-planned attack," he added.
A bag apparently left by a meter at the scene was examined by the Chattaqua Sheriff's Office and a bomb squad.
Earlier, Haddy Mater, the suspect in Friday's attack at the lecture hall at the Chattaqua Institute in
the western city of Chattaqua, New York, pleaded not guilty in court to charges of attempted murder and assault.
He remains in custody.
Rushdie was about to begin his speech when Matar, wearing a black mask, ran onto the stage and stabbed him repeatedly before members of the audience and security guards caught him.
Rushdi was stabbed in the liver and arm, and will probably lose an eye.
However, the exact motive for the attack is still unclear.
The 24-year-old Mater was born in the United States, a decade after the publication of the book "The Devil's Verses", to immigrant parents from the village of Yaron in southern Lebanon, village head Ali Tahfa told the AP news agency.
Hezbollah flags decorate the village, alongside portraits of Hassan Nasrallah, Ali Khamenei, Khomeini and the commander of the Quds Force of the Revolutionary Guards, Qassem Soleimani, who was killed in 2020.
According to AP, journalists who arrived in the village on Saturday were asked to leave.
A Hezbollah spokesman did not respond.
Police and the FBI cordoned off the area around his New Jersey home.
According to a New York State Police chief, Eugene Staniczewski, it is not yet clear whether Mater had a criminal record.
The attacker Hadi Mater was captured (photo: official website, from Twitter)
According to a report on NBC, a check on social networks revealed that Mater identified with the Revolutionary Guards and with extreme Shiites.
However, the authorities have not yet found a direct link between him and the Revolutionary Guards.
In a messaging app on a cell phone that belonged to Mater, photos of Qassem Soleimani, the commander of the Revolutionary Guards who was killed by an American drone in January 2020, were found. The phone also included a photo of an extremist Iraqi leader who sympathizes with the Iranian regime.
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