- Salman Rushdie says he is writing book about near-fatal knife attack Financial Times
- Sir Salman Rushdie thanks ‘heroes’ who saved his life during knife attack Sky News
- Salman Rushdie Makes First In-Person Appearance Since Stabbing: “Violence Must Not Deter Us” Hollywood Reporter
- At PEN America gala in NYC, Salman Rushdie makes first in-person appearance since stabbing New York Daily News
- Salman Rushdie Backs Iran’s Women In Their Struggle ایران اینترنشنال
- View Full Coverage on Google News
Tag Archives: Rushdie
Salman Rushdie lost partial vision, use of hand after attack, rep says
“So, it was a brutal attack,” Wylie said in the interview, adding that the injuries were “profound.”
Wylie declined to say whether Rushdie remains in the hospital, explaining that he could not give any information about the author’s whereabouts.
“He’s going to live,” Wylie told the paper, adding, “That’s the more important thing.”
Wylie’s office did not immediately respond to a request for comment from The Washington Post on Sunday.
Around 11 a.m. on Aug. 12, Rushdie had just taken his seat onstage for an interview at the Chautauqua Institution when a man ran onto the stage and attacked Rushdie and his interviewer, Henry Reese, who suffered a facial injury that required a short hospitalization. Rushdie, who police said had been stabbed in the neck and abdomen, was airlifted to a hospital and put on a ventilator.
In the following days, after Rushdie had been taken off the ventilator, Wylie told The Post that Rushdie’s injuries were severe. He told the Associated Press that Rushdie suffered damage to his liver and to nerves in one arm, adding that the author might lose an eye.
Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old New Jersey man, was arrested in the attack and charged with attempted murder and assault. He has pleaded not guilty.
After the 1988 publication of Rushdie’s fourth novel, “The Satanic Verses,” Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini denounced the novel’s treatment of Islam as blasphemous and issued a fatwa, or religious decree, calling for Rushdie’s assassination. A $1 million bounty was put on his head — an amount that would grow to more than $3 million over the years.
Rushdie went into hiding for years. Bookstores that sold the novel were attacked. Two translators of the book — one Italian and one Japanese — were the victims of separate stabbings in 1991. The Japanese translator, Hitoshi Igarashi, died. Even after Khomeini died and Iran’s leaders later distanced themselves from the fatwa, it remained a threat to Rushdie. He told The Post in 1992 that he wasn’t sure he’d ever be safe, though in recent years Rushdie made public appearances without visible guards.
Iran denied involvement in the August attack. In an interview with the New York Post, Matar would not say whether he was inspired by the fatwa, but he praised Khomeini and told the paper that he was surprised Rushdie survived.
In the interview published Saturday, Wylie told El País that, in the past, he and Rushdie had spoken about how the fatwa continued to pose a danger, especially from “a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking” him.
“So, you can’t protect against that,” Wylie told the paper, “because it’s totally unexpected and illogical.”
Author Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and hand is “incapacitated” following August stabbing attack, agent says
CNN
—
Author Salman Rushdie has lost his sight in one eye and one of his hands is “incapacitated” following a stabbing attack in August, according to an interview given by his agent to a Spanish newspaper.
Rushdie, 75, underwent emergency surgery after he was stabbed several times before his scheduled lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York on August 12.
Staff members and guests then rushed onto the stage and held down the suspect, identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, before a state trooper assigned to the event took him into custody, according to New York State Police.
Matar has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder in the second degree, and second-degree assault, over the attack.
Speaking to El País, literary agent Andrew Wylie said, “[His wounds] were profound, but he’s [also] lost the sight of one eye … He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.”
Wylie declined to tell the newspaper if Rushdie was still hospitalized and did not specify when he had last been updated on Rushdie’s condition, according to an English language write-up of the interview. He said the most important thing was the writer was going to live.
Wylie also told El País he and Rushdie had talked about the possibility of such an attack in the past. “The principal danger that he faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed is from a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking [him],” he said. “So, you can’t protect against that because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like John Lennon’s murder.”
El Pais said the interview was conducted from a hotel suite Wednesday evening, during the Frankfurt book fair.
CNN has contacted Wylie but did not receive an immediate response.
Salman Rushdie has lost sight in one eye and use of one hand
Salman Rushdie lost sight in one eye and the use of one hand after he was brutally stabbed in the neck during a literary event in upstate New York two months ago, his agent said.
The 75-year-old author, whose novel The Satanic Verses has prompted calls for his death, was stabbed in the neck and torso as he walked on stage to deliver a speech at the Chautauqua Institution on August 12.
The extent of Rushdie’s injuries have been unknown until Saturday, when his agent Andrew Wylie gave an update on his condition in an interview with the Spanish newspaper, El País.
“[His wounds] were profound, but he’s [also] lost the sight of one eye,” said Wylie. “He had three serious wounds in his neck. One hand is incapacitated because the nerves in his arm were cut. And he has about 15 more wounds in his chest and torso. So, it was a brutal attack.”
The agent declined to say whether Rushdie is still being treated at the hospital, but said the important thing is that the world-famous author will survive.
Wylie noted that the possibility of the attack was something he and Salman had discussed in the past.
“I think the attack was probably something that Salman and I have discussed in the past, which was that the principal danger that he faced so many years after the fatwa was imposed is from a random person coming out of nowhere and attacking [him],’ Wylie said.
“So, you can’t protect against that because it’s totally unexpected and illogical. It was like John Lennon’s murder,” he added.
A New Jersey man identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar was arrested in connection to Rusdie’s stabbing. He pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges in August.
New York State Police said Rushdie was about to begin his scheduled lecture when Matar charged the stage with a knife in hand, stabbing the British author in the neck and the torso.
Rushdie spent nearly a decade in hiding after The Satanic Verses, was published, as the novel is considered blasphemous by some. A religious edict calling Muslims to kill him was issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, the Iranian leader, just a year after his book was published.
Safety concerns loom as writers show public support for Rushdie
NEW YORK, Aug 19 (Reuters) – Under the watch of counterterrorism officers and police in tactical gear, hundreds of people gathered in front of the New York Public Library on Friday to show support for Salman Rushdie, the author stabbed multiple times at a literary event a week ago.
Irish novelist Colum McCann, British writer Hari Kunzru and others read passages from Rushdie’s works from the top of the flagship library branch’s steps off Manhattan’s Fifth Avenue. Below, at a distance enforced by organizers, a crowd of about 400 people gathered to listen, breaking out into a chant of “Stand with Salman” when the event concluded.
Some held signs depicting Rushdie and quoting him saying, “If we are not confident of our freedom, then we are not free.”
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Police say Rushdie was attacked by a 24-year-old New Jersey man who rushed a stage and stabbed the writer in the neck and torso at a literary festival in western New York last week. Rushdie, who was rushed to a hospital, survived. read more
There were no bag checks or metal detectors to screen for weapons ahead of the appearance by Rushdie, who had been living under a death sentence for 33 years. read more
The suspect has pleaded not guilty to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges.
“I hope this is a wake-up call that people like Salman, who are fearless, who write things as they see them, who are not afraid to speak the truth as they view it, really are in danger,” said PEN America Chief Executive Suzanne Nossel. The nonprofit free-expression and human rights group helped organize the event.
Attendees spoke of their worries for themselves and other writers following the attack.
“We’re all in danger. And some of us are more overtly in danger than the rest,” Iranian-American author Roya Hakakian said in an interview.
While the death sentence, or fatwa, ordered on Rushdie by Iran was among the most high-profile threats, many authors say harassment and calls for violence have become part of the experience of being a writer.
“Love Is an Ex-Country” author Randa Jarrar said in an email interview this week that she had to learn how to “better aim a gun” and prepare physically in case of attack after a tweet about former first lady Barbara Bush prompted threats.
Supporters of author Salman Rushdie attend a reading and rally to show solidarity for free expression at the New York Public Library in New York City, U.S., August 19, 2022. REUTERS/Brendan McDermid
When Bush died in 2018, Jarrar described her as an “amazing racist” for a comment about the majority-Black communities displaced by Hurricane Katrina.
The Muslim author said she feared for her life when critics posted her home address and phone number online. She and her child began receiving death threats.
Every threat she received mentioned that she is Muslim and warned her to go back to where she came from, Jarrar said. She moved, and hired a company to scrub her private data from the internet.
Queer Chicana writer Myriam Gurba faced threats after she criticized author Jeanine Cummins in 2020 of cultural appropriation in writing the novel “American Dirt,” which focused on a Mexican woman who escaped a drug cartel to build a new life in the United States as an undocumented immigrant.
Gurba said many people supported her, but she also received threats of violence on her phone and the internet.
“The first death threat that I received stated that the police should execute me for my stupidity,” she said.
This week, police in Scotland said they were investigating a threat against “Harry Potter” author J.K. Rowling following her tweet voicing concern for Rushdie. read more
At least one upcoming literary festival is tightening security. Organizers of September’s National Book Festival, hosted by the Library of Congress in Washington, had already planned to require bag searches.
Now, the festival is working with law enforcement to add extra measures, a spokesperson said.
At the New York Public Library, some writers said they did not fear gathering in public.
“The only time I got anxious was when they told us how much security there was going to be, thinking maybe there have been some threats, but I doubt it,” author Paul Auster said.
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Reporting by Randi Love and Sofia Ahmed in New York and Danielle Broadway in Los Angeles; Writing by Lisa Richwine; Editing by Jonathan Oatis
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Salman Rushdie is awake and ‘articulate’ after stabbing attack in New York, official says
The writer — whose books have garnered him awards — was conscious Monday and able to respond to questions from investigators, according to the law enforcement official.
It’s unclear what Rushdie told investigators following the attack that shook the literary world and prompted immediate condemnation from around the globe.
The suspect in the attack, identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar, allegedly jumped onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institution, about 70 miles southwest of Buffalo, New York, and lunged toward Rushdie, repeatedly stabbing him, according to New York State Police. The suspect was held down by audience members and staff who forced him to the ground until he was arrested by a state trooper.
The author suffered three stab wounds to his neck, four stab wounds to his stomach, puncture wounds to his right eye and chest, and a laceration on his right thigh, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said during Matar’s arraignment over the weekend. Rushdie may lose sight in his right eye, he noted, adding that the attack was targeted and preplanned.
Officials believe Matar, who lived in Fairview, New Jersey, traveled to Buffalo via bus and used a ridesharing app to reach Chautauqua the day before the attack, according to the law enforcement official who spoke to CNN.
Investigators do not know where Matar spent the night and they are working with the institution to comb through surveillance footage to determine whether he was near the area during overnight hours, the official added.
Upon his arrest, Matar had a fake driver’s license, some cash, two Visa prepaid gift cards and no wallet, the official told CNN. Matar refused to answer questions from authorities when he was taken into custody and asked for an attorney, the law enforcement official said.
Public defender Nathaniel Barone, who represents Matar, told CNN his client has been “very cooperative” and communicating openly.
Matar pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault with intent to cause physical injury with a deadly weapon, Barone said.
Rushdie lived in hiding after his novel “The Satanic Verses” was published in 1988, drawing criticism from some Muslims who considered it sacrilegious. The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who described the book as an insult to Islam and the faith’s Prophet Mohammed, issued a religious decree, or fatwa, calling for Rushdie’s death in 1989.
What we know about the suspect
A motive for the attack remains unclear and authorities are sifting through items they took from Matar’s New Jersey home, according to the law enforcement source.
Matar, who has no documented criminal history, is accused of using a knife in the stabbing, according to a felony complaint.
It remains unclear how he may have entered the event armed with a knife. There were no security searches or metal detectors at the event, said a witness whom CNN is not identifying because they expressed concerns for their personal safety.
Matar was described as someone who is quiet and mostly kept to himself, according to people who interacted with him at a boxing gym in North Bergen, New Jersey.
Desmond Boyle, the owner of State of Fitness Boxing Club, told CNN Matar enrolled there in April.
“You know that look, that ‘it’s the worst day of your life’ look? He came in every day like that,” Boyle told CNN.
Roberto Irizarry, a member of the gym, told CNN Matar went to the gym about three or four times in a week and was “a very quiet kid.”
“It’s a brotherly environment, family environment — we try to involve everybody. He was to himself, pretty much,” Irizarry said.
Matar faces up to 32 years if convicted, the district attorney said.
US condemns Iranian government statement
The assault on the famed author drew support for him from writers and officials around the world.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said he was “appalled” by the attack on Rushdie, who is also a British citizen.
“Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones.”
Rushdie began living under British protection after Iran issued the fatwa calling for his death.
On Monday, the Iranian government denied ties to the attack in its first official reaction.
“We do not consider anyone other than (Rushdie) and his supporters worth of blame and even condemnation,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said during a televised news conference.
Iranian officials haven’t learned anything about the suspect other than what US news media has reported, Kanaani said, according to Iranian state media. “We categorically and seriously deny any connection of the assailant with Iran,” Kanaani added.
The US State Department denounced Iran’s stance, saying the comments are “despicable” and “disgusting.”
“It is no secret that the Iranian regime has been central to the threats against his life over the course of years now,” said State Department spokesperson Ned Price, who called Iran’s “gloating” over the attack “absolutely outrageous.”
“We want it to be very clear that it is not something that we can tolerate,” Price said.
In 1998, the Iranian government sought to distance itself from the fatwa by pledging not to seek to carry it out. Despite that, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reaffirmed the religious edict.
In February 2017, on Khamenei’s official website, the supreme leader was asked if the “fatwa against Rushdie was still in effect,” to which Khamenei confirmed it was, saying, “The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued.”
CNN’s Nicki Brown, Liam Reilly, Artemis Moshtaghian, Kristina Sgueglia, Samantha Beech, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, David Romain, Nouran Salahieh, Adam Pourahmadi, Alex Stambaugh, Michael Conte and Christian Sierra contributed to this report.
Relieved Salman Rushdie Pulling Through After Stabbing Nightmare: Ex Wife Padma Lakshmi
Salman Rushdie and Padma Lakshmi married in 2004 and got divorced in 2007. (File)
New York:
Salman Rushdie is “pulling through” and is on the “road to recovery”, his former wife and celebrated TV personality Padma Lakshmi and his agent said on Sunday, two days after the Mumbai-born author was stabbed in New York in what US authorities described as a “targeted, unprovoked, preplanned” attack.
Rushdie was taken off a ventilator on Saturday and could talk after the best-selling author was stabbed on stage at a literary event in New York state on Friday.
Rushdie, 75, and Chennai-born Lakshmi married in 2004 and got divorced in 2007. Lakshmi, 51, who is herself an author and the host of the hit culinary TV show TopChef, was Rushdie’s fourth wife.
“Relieved @SalmanRushdie is pulling through after Friday’s nightmare. Worried and wordless, can finally exhale. Now hoping for swift healing,” she said in a tweet.
Relieved @SalmanRushdie is pulling through after Friday’s nightmare. Worried and wordless, can finally exhale. Now hoping for swift healing.
— Padma Lakshmi (@PadmaLakshmi) August 14, 2022
The New York Times reported that Rushdie’s agent Andrew Wylie said, “The road to recovery has begun. It will be long; the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction.” Rushdie, who faced Islamist death threats for years after writing “The Satanic Verses”, was stabbed by a 24-year-old New Jersey resident identified as Hadi Matar, the US national of Lebanese origin, on stage on Friday while he was being introduced at a literary event of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York.
“@SalmanRushdie off ventilator and talking! Continued prayers from all @chq,” Chautauqua Institution president Michael Hill said in a tweet on Saturday night. Rushdie’s agent Wylie confirmed to the US media.
Rushdie was put on a ventilator after he was stabbed by Matar.
Earlier on Saturday, Matar pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault at a brief court appearance where he was denied bail.
Matar was charged with attempted murder and assault in the stabbing of Rushdie and he pleaded not guilty. He made his appearance in court, wearing a black-and-white striped jumpsuit and handcuffed.
Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt provided the details of Rushdie’s injuries in court during Matar’s arraignment Saturday afternoon.
The author’s injuries include three stab wounds to the right side of the front of his neck, four stab wounds to his stomach, a puncture wound to his right eye and chest, and a laceration on his right thigh, according to the county prosecutor.
“This was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr Rushdie,” Schmidt alleged.
Matar faces up to 32 years if convicted of both charges, Schmidt said.
The attack on Rushdie drew shock and condemnation from world leaders and literary stalwarts.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement on Saturday that he and First Lady Jill Biden were “shocked and saddened” to learn of the “vicious” attack on the author.
“Salman Rushdie — with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced — stands for essential, universal ideals. Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society. And today, we reaffirm our commitment to those deeply American values in solidarity with Rushdie and all those who stand for freedom of expression,” Biden said.
“We, together with all Americans and people around the world, are praying for his health and recovery. I am grateful to the first responders and the brave individuals who jumped into action to render aid to Rushdie and subdue the attacker,” he added.
UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres said he is “appalled” to learn about the attack on Rushdie. “The Secretary-General was appalled to learn of the attack on renowned novelist Salman Rushdie,” a statement issued on Friday by his spokesperson said.
“In no case is violence a response to words spoken or written by others in their exercise of the freedoms of opinion and expression,” Guterres said, conveying his wishes for Rushdie’s early recovery.
European Union foreign policy chief Josep Borrell “strongly” condemned the attack on Saturday night.
“International rejection of such criminal actions, which violate fundamental rights and freedoms, is the only path towards a better and more peaceful world”, Borrell tweeted.
Rushdie lived in hiding and under police protection for years after late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini put out a fatwa in 1989 calling for his death in retribution for his book The Satanic Verses.
A report in The New York Times said according to prosecutors, Rushdie was stabbed roughly 10 times in the premeditated attack.
“In court, prosecutors said that the attack on the author was premeditated and targeted,” the report said, adding that Matar travelled by bus to the “intellectual retreat in western New York and purchased a pass that allowed him to attend” the talk “Rushdie was to give on Friday morning”.
Rushdie, the author of 14 novels, was knighted in 2007 for services to literature.
(This story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is auto-generated from a syndicated feed.)
Iran blames Salman Rushdie and supporters for his stabbing
“Regarding the attack on Salman Rushdie, we do not consider anyone other than [Rushdie] and his supporters worth of blame and even condemnation,” Iranian Foreign Ministry spokesman Nasser Kanaani said in a televised news conference Monday, marking the country’s first public reaction to the incident.
“We have not seen anything else about the individual that carried out this act other than what we’ve seen from American media. We categorically and seriously deny any connection of the assailant with Iran,” Kanaani said, according to Iranian state media.
Rushdie, an acclaimed Indian-born British author, has received death threats for decades after Iran issued a fatwa, or religious decree, calling for his killing following the 1988 release of his book “The Satanic Verses.” He spent nearly a decade living under British protection before moving to the United States in recent years, and was repeatedly stabbed during an on-stage attack in western New York on Friday.
The suspect, identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty Saturday to attempted murder in the second degree and other charges.
While Iran did not officially comment on the attack over the weekend, several hardline Iranian newspapers poured praise on the suspect on Saturday — including the conservative Kayhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei.
“A thousand bravos, a hundred God blesses. His hand must be kissed … Bravo to the warrior and dutiful man who attacked the Apostate and wicked Salman Rushdie. The hand of the warrior must be kissed. He tore the vein of Rushdie’s neck,” the paper said.
Another hardline newspaper, Khorasan, published a headline, “The Devil on the Path to Hell,” while showing a picture of Rushdie on a stretcher.
Rushdie — the son of a successful Muslim businessman in India — was educated in England, first at Rugby School and later at the University of Cambridge where he received an MA degree in history.
The publication of the “The Satanic Verses” in 1988 turned him into a household name and brought him notoriety. Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued the fatwa against him a year later.
The bounty against Rushdie has never been lifted, however in 1998 the Iranian government sought to distance itself from the fatwa by pledging not to seek to carry it out.
But in February 2017, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei reaffirmed the religious edict.
And in 2019, Khamenei tweeted that said Khomeini’s fatwa against Rushdie was “solid and irrevocable,” prompting Twitter to place a restriction on his account.
CNN’s Lauren Said-Moorhouse contributed to this report.
JK Rowling: Police investigate online threat after Salman Rushdie comment
The Harry Potter creator said she felt “very sick” after hearing the news and hoped the novelist would “be OK”.
In response, a user said “don’t worry you are next.”
After sharing screen shots of the threatening tweet, Rowling said: “To all sending supportive messages: thank you police are involved (were already involved on other threats).”
A spokeswoman for Scotland’s police said: “We have received a report of an online threat being made and officers are carrying out enquiries.”
Rushdie, 75, was set to deliver a lecture on artistic freedom on Friday in western New York when a man rushed the stage and stabbed the Indian-born writer, who has lived with a bounty on his head since his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” prompted Iran to urge Muslims to kill him.
Following hours of surgery, Rushdie was on a ventilator and unable to speak as of Friday evening. The novelist was likely to lose an eye and had nerve damage in his arm and wounds to his liver.
Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey is accused of attacking Rushdie. He pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault at a court appearance on Saturday.
Rowling has in the past been criticized by trans activists who have accused her of transphobia.
Salman Rushdie is recovering from ‘life-changing’ injuries after being stabbed on stage. Here’s what we know
The family of the 75-year-old author — who has for decades lived under threat because of his writings — said he was in critical condition Sunday after the on-stage attack, which ended with the assailant being held down by staff and guests and Rushdie being airlifted to a hospital.
“Though his life changing injuries are severe, his usual feisty & defiant sense of humor remains intact,” his son Zafar Rushdie said in a Sunday statement.
Rushdie was taken off a ventilator over the weekend, but was still being treated for injuries including three stab wounds to his neck, four stab wounds to his stomach, puncture wounds to his right eye and chest, and a laceration on his right thigh, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Saturday, adding the author may end up losing his right eye.
The suspect, identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, was arrested by a state trooper after the attack and taken into custody.
Authorities are now investigating what motivated the stabbing, which has prompted the state to increase police presence in Chautauqua, New York State Police Superintendent Kevin P. Bruen said.
What we know about the “targeted, preplanned” attack
Rushdie was being introduced to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution Friday when a man lunged onto the stage and stabbed the author in several places in front of a stunned audience.
Staff members and guests then rushed onto the stage and held down the assailant before a state trooper assigned to the event took him into custody, according to New York State Police.
Also injured in the attack was Ralph Henry Reese, another speaker at the event who suffered a minor head injury.
“It was very difficult to understand. It looked like a sort of bad prank, and it didn’t have any sense of reality,” Ralph Henry Reese told CNN’s “Reliable Sources.” “And then when there was blood behind him, it became real.”
A witness, Joyce Lussier, was sitting in the second row when she saw the attack unfold. She heard people screaming and crying, she told CNN, and saw people from the audience rushing up to the stage.
The suspect, Matar, had arrived in Chautauqua at least a day before the event and bought a pass to the event two days prior, authorities said.
Schmidt called the stabbing a “targeted, preplanned, unprovoked attack on Mr. Rushdie,” saying Matar traveled to Chautauqua by bus with cash, prepaid Visa cards and false identification.
The felony complaint against Matar indicated a knife was used in the stabbing.
It remains unclear how the suspect may have entered the event armed with a knife. A witness has, however, told CNN there were no security searches or metal detectors at the event. The witness is not being identified because they expressed concerns for their personal safety.
Institution President Michael Hill defended his organization’s security plans when asked during a news conference Friday whether there would be more precautions at future events.
“We assess for every event what we think the appropriate security level is, and this one was certainly one that we thought was important, which is why we had a State Trooper and Sheriff presence there,” Hill said.
On Sunday, New York Gov. Kathy Hochul met with Chautauqua Institute stage crews and the police trooper who helped subdue Rushdie’s alleged attacker, calling them heroes.
“The team that was on the ground here and the EMTs, the firefighters and those who show up and literally kept the man alive as they were transporting him, did an extraordinary job,” the governor said.
The suspect pleads not guilty, described as a ‘quiet’ New Jersey man
Matar — who authorities said has no documented criminal history — pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault with intent to cause physical injury with a deadly weapon, his public defender, Nathaniel Barone, told CNN Saturday.
The attorney said Matar has been “very cooperative” and communicating openly, but he did not discuss what was said during those conversations.
He faces up to 32 years if convicted of both charges, Schmidt said.
Matar was described as being a quiet person who mostly kept to himself.
The suspect had enrolled at State of Fitness Boxing Club in North Bergen, New Jersey in April, the gym’s owner, Desmond Boyle, told CNN.
“You know that look, that ‘it’s the worst day of your life’ look? He came in every day like that,” Boyle told CNN on Saturday.
A member of the gym, Roberto Irizarry, told CNN Matar frequented the gym about three or four times a week and was “a very quiet kid.”
“It’s a brotherly environment, family environment — we try to involve everybody. He was to himself, pretty much,” Irizarry said.
Rushdie receives a flood of support as he begins ‘road to recovery’
The attack on the prominent author generated an outpouring of support from leaders worldwide.
US President Joe Biden said in a statement he was saddened by the attack.
“Salman Rushdie — with his insight into humanity, with his unmatched sense for story, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced — stands for essential, universal ideals. Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society,” Biden said.
UK Prime Minister Boris Johnson said in a tweet he was “appalled” by the attack on Rushdie, who is also a British citizen.
“Appalled that Sir Salman Rushdie has been stabbed while exercising a right we should never cease to defend. Right now my thoughts are with his loved ones. We are all hoping he is OK,” Johnson said Friday.
Rushdie’s former wife, TV host Padma Lakshmi, said in a tweet Sunday she was “relieved” Rushdie is “pulling through after Friday’s nightmare.”
“Worried and wordless, can finally exhale. Now hoping for swift healing,” she said.
Suzanne Nossel, CEO of PEN America, in a statement said
“PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at the word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former President and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie, who was reportedly stabbed multiple times while on stage speaking at the Chautauqua Institute in upstate New York,” Nossel said. “We can think of no comparable incident of a public attack on a literary writer on American soil.”
“Salman Rushdie has been targeted for his words for decades but has never flinched nor faltered,” Nossel added. “He has devoted tireless energy to assisting others who are vulnerable and menaced.”
Rushdie’s writings have won him several literary prizes, but also scrutiny. His fourth novel, “The Satanic Verses,” drew condemnation from some Muslims who found the book to be sacrilegious.
The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who described the book as an insult to Islam and Prophet Mohammed, issued a religious decree, or fatwa, calling for Rushdie’s death in 1989.
As a result, Rushdie began a decade under British protection.
While the motive behind Friday’s stabbing remains under investigation, New York’s governor condemned the attack.
“I want it out there that a man with a knife cannot silence a man with a pen,” Hochul said.
CNN’s Artemis Moshtaghian, Liam Reilly, Samantha Beech, Keith Allen and Brian Stelter contributed to this report.