Speaking to the New York Post from jail, Hadi Matar stated he determined to see Rushdie on the Chautauqua Institution after he noticed a tweet final winter in regards to the author’s deliberate look.
“I don’t like the person. I don’t think he’s a very good person,” Matar instructed the newspaper. “He’s someone who attacked Islam. He attacked their beliefs, the belief systems.”
Matar, 24, stated he thought of late Iranian chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini “a great person” however wouldn’t say whether or not he was following a fatwa, or edict, issued by Khomeini in Iran in 1989 that known as for Rushdie’s demise after the writer printed ‘The Satanic Verses.’
Iran has denied involvement within the assault.
Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey seems in reserving images at Chautauqua County Jail in Mayville, New York, US, August 12, 2022. (Chautauqua County Jail/Handout through Reuters)
Matar, who lives in Fairview, New Jersey, stated he hadn’t had any contact with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard. He instructed the Post he had solely learn “a couple pages” of ‘The Satanic Verses.’
Rushdie, 75, suffered a broken liver and severed nerves in an arm and a watch, based on his agent, within the assault Friday. His agent, Andrew Wylie, stated his situation has improved and he’s on the highway to restoration.
Matar, who’s charged with tried homicide and assault, instructed the Post he took a bus to Buffalo the day earlier than the assault after which took a Lyft to Chautauqua, about 64 kilometres away.
He purchased a cross to the Chautauqua Institution grounds after which slept within the grass the evening earlier than Rushdie’s deliberate discuss.
Matar was born within the US however holds twin citizenship in Lebanon, the place his mother and father have been born. His mom has instructed reporters in interviews that Matar got here again modified from a go to to see his father in Lebanon in 2018. After that, he turned moody and withdrew from his household, she stated.
