After attack on writer: Alleged attacker of Salman Rushdie officially charged

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Hadi M. in court: Release on bail denied

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ANGELA WEISS / AFP

The alleged assassin of writer Salman Rushdie has been officially indicted by a US grand jury.

In a courtroom in the city of Chautauqua, New York State, 24-year-old Hadi M. pleaded "not guilty" on Thursday, according to several US media reports.

Investigators accuse M. of attempted second-degree murder and assault with a deadly weapon and intent to cause bodily harm.

According to the TV channel CNN, the court refused M. release on bail.

The young man was brought into the hall in handcuffs and striped convict clothing and said little.

He faced up to 25 years in prison if he was found solely guilty of attempted murder.

Rushdie was attacked by a man at an event in Chautauqua, western New York, on Friday.

He has since been treated at a hospital in neighboring Pennsylvania.

The writer has been persecuted by religious fanatics for decades, but the police have not yet confirmed a motive for the attack.

The attack on Rushdie came 33 years after Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran's supreme leader at the time, issued a fatwa calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie for publishing the "Satanic Verses".

"I don't like him very much," the suspect says of Rushdie

In an interview published by the New York Post on Wednesday, M. said he respected Khomeini but would not say he was inspired by the fatwa.

He said he read "a few pages" of The Satanic Verses and watched YouTube videos by the author.

"I don't like him very much," M. said about Rushdie.

"He's someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the belief systems."

Mother distances herself

Apparently, the alleged assassin does not receive any support from his mother.

"I don't want anything to do with him," she told New York Times reporters who questioned her outside her home.

sol/dap/Reuters