The suspect in the knife attack on Sir Salman Rushdie has been charged with attempted murder – as new footage shows the immediate aftermath of the attack.
The video shows the chaotic minutes after the attack in Chautauqua, New York, on Friday, which left the 75-year-old author critically injured.
The alleged attacker, Hadi Matar, 24, was restrained and pinned to the ground as people rushed to help Sir Salman.
The writer remains on a ventilator and could lose his eye, his agent Andrew Wylie said.
He also suffered severed nerves in his arm and liver damage.
Image: Hadi Matar is detained outside Chautauqua Institution. Photo: AP
Read more: Who is Hadi Matar? What we know so far The world reacts when satanic verse writer is stabbed in upstate New York
Moderator Henry Reese suffered a minor head injury after also being attacked, officials said.
The suspect acted alone
A motive for the attack is still unknown, but police believe the suspect acted alone.
“The man responsible for the attack, Hadi Matar, has now been formally charged with attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault,” said Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt.
Both state and federal authorities are considering whether additional fees should be added, he said.
According to NBC News, which cited a law enforcement official with direct knowledge of the investigation, a preliminary review of Mattar’s social media showed him to have sympathies with Shiite extremism and Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.
FBI agents went to his last listed address in Fairview, just across the Hudson River across from Manhattan, on Friday night, NBC New York said.
Image: Police cordon off the area around Hadi Matar’s home in Fairview, New Jersey, on Friday. Photo: AP
A “relatively normal” life
Sir Salman was forced into hiding for years and received death threats after the publication in 1988 of his book The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims considered to contain blasphemous passages.
A year later, Ayatollah Khomeini, Iran’s leader, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims to kill him.
Just two weeks before the attack, Sir Salman said that after years of living in hiding and receiving death threats, his life was now “relatively normal”.
Speaking to German magazine Stern, he called himself an optimist, saying that when it comes to his own life, “I prefer to look forward.”
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:21 Rushdie in 2017: Threats ‘largely’ over
Sir Salman was being introduced to the audience before giving a lecture at the Chautauqua Institute in New York state when a man stormed the stage and stabbed or stabbed him 10 to 15 times, according to witnesses.
The author was airlifted to a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania.
He would give a lecture on freedom of expression and the United States as a safe haven for writers.
Sir Salman lives in New York and became a US citizen in 2016.
Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player
0:45 Rushdie is airlifted out after being stabbed.
“A thousand bravos”
The attack shocked and horrified fellow writers and world leaders who spoke of Sir Salman as a symbol of free speech.
There was no official comment from the regime in Iran, but several hardline Iranian newspapers praised the attack.
“Thousands of bravos… to the brave and obedient man who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York,” said the Kayhan newspaper.
“The hand of the man who breaks the neck of God’s enemy must be kissed.”
Another publication, the Khorasan daily, carries the headline: “Satan on the Road to Hell.”
Add Comment