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  • Salman Rushdie assault suspect pleads not responsible to tried homicide, assault

    A person accused of stabbing novelist Salman Rushdie final week in western New York pleaded not responsible to second-degree tried homicide and assault costs on Thursday throughout an arraignment listening to and was ordered held with out bail.

    Hadi Matar, 24, is accused of wounding Rushdie, 75, on Friday simply earlier than the “The Satanic Verses” creator was to ship a lecture on stage at an academic retreat close to Lake Erie. Rushdie was hospitalized with severe accidents in what writers and politicians all over the world decried as an assault on the liberty of expression.

    Matar was arraigned throughout a quick listening to in Chautauqua County district courtroom on an indictment returned earlier within the day by a grand jury that charged him with one rely of second-degree tried homicide and one rely of second-degree assault.

    The assault got here 33 years after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran’s supreme chief, issued a fatwa, or spiritual edict, calling on Muslims to assassinate Rushdie just a few months after “The Satanic Verses” was revealed. Some Muslims noticed passages concerning the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous.

    Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim Kashmiri household, has lived with a bounty on his head, and spent 9 years in hiding beneath British police safety.

    In 1998, Iran’s pro-reform authorities of President Mohammad Khatami distanced itself from the fatwa, saying the menace in opposition to Rushdie was over. But the multimillion-dollar bounty has since grown and the fatwa was by no means lifted: Khomeini’s successor, Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, was suspended from Twitter in 2019 for saying the fatwa in opposition to Rushdie was “irrevocable.”

    In an interview revealed by the New York Post on Wednesday, Matar stated he revered Khomeini however wouldn’t say if he was impressed by the fatwa. He stated he had “read a couple of pages” of “The Satanic Verses” and watched YouTube movies of the creator.

    “I don’t like him very much,” Matar stated of Rushdie, as reported within the Post. “He’s someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the belief systems.”

    Iran’s international ministry on Monday stated that Tehran shouldn’t be accused of being concerned within the assault. Matar is believed to have acted alone, police have stated.

    Matar is a Shi’ite Muslim who was born in California to a household from Lebanon.

    Prosecutors say he travelled to Chautauqua Institution, a retreat about 12 miles (19 km) from Lake Erie, the place he purchased a move to Rushdie’s lecture.

    Witnesses stated there have been no apparent safety checks on the lecture venue and that Matar didn’t communicate as he attacked the creator. He was arrested on the scene by a New York State Police trooper after being wrestled to the bottom by viewers members.

    Rushdie sustained extreme accidents within the assault, together with nerve harm in his arm, wounds to his liver, and the doubtless lack of a watch, his agent stated.

  • Salman Rushdie attacker ‘surprised’ the writer survived

    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.

  • ‘Middle East journey modified him’: Mother of man who attacked Salman Rushdie in New York

    The mom of the 24-year-old suspect, accused of trying to homicide creator Salman Rushdie, stated that her son modified after a visit to the Middle East in 2018 and she or he was not even conscious of who the creator was.

    Speaking to the Daily Mail, the accused, Hadi Matar’s mom, Silvana Fardos, stated that her outgoing son become a moody and introvert particular person following a go to to the Middle East in 2018.

    “I was expecting him to come back motivated, to complete school, to get his degree and a job. But instead, he locked himself in the basement. He had changed a lot, he didn’t say anything to me or his sisters for months,” she stated.

    Silvana additionally detected that her son was turning into extra spiritual and he would criticize her for not giving him a strict Muslim upbringing. He additionally barred her from getting into his basement.

    “One time he argued with me asking why I encouraged him to get an education instead of focusing on religion. He was angry that I did not introduce him to Islam from a young age,” Silvana added.

    ALSO READ | Suspect’s father refuses to talk about Salman Rushdie assault

    The lady additional informed the Daily Mail that she had by no means heard of Rushdie earlier than getting a frantic name from her daughter on Friday.

    As FBI brokers raided her Fairview, New Jersey dwelling on Friday afternoon, it was the primary she heard of the incident.

    “I just cannot believe he was capable of doing something like this. He was very quiet, everyone loved him. As I said to the FBI, I’m not going to bother talking to him again. He’s responsible for his actions,” Silvana Firdos stated.

    Matar was born within the US to Lebanese mother and father who emigrated from the southern border city of Yaroun, a stronghold of the Iranian-backed terror group Hezbollah.

    The creator, 75, was stabbed almost 10 occasions, together with within the neck and the stomach, on Friday by a person who rushed onto the stage because the creator was about to present a lecture in New York.

    — ENDS —

  • Suspect’s father refuses to discuss Salman Rushdie assault

    The father of the person charged with making an attempt to homicide creator Salman Rushdie has refused to discuss the assault.

    Salman Rushdie was attacked by Hadi Matar whereas giving a lecture in western New York (Photo: File)

    The father of the person charged with making an attempt to homicide novelist Salman Rushdie has locked himself in at his house in southern Lebanon and is refusing to talk to anybody, city mayor Ali Tehfe stated on Sunday.

    The suspect in Friday’s assault in New York state has been recognized by police as 24-year-old Hadi Matar from New Jersey. He has pleaded not responsible. Matar is initially Lebanese and his household comes from the south Lebanon city of Yaroun.

    Tehfe stated his mother and father emigrated to the United States and Matar was born and raised there, however his father returned to Lebanon a number of years in the past.

    “His father is in the country now but he has locked himself in and is not accepting to give any kind of statement to anyone. We tried with him, we sent people, we went and knocked on the door but he is not agreeing to speak to anyone,” Tehfe informed Reuters.

    An official from the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah stated on Saturday the group had no further info on the assault on Rushdie.

    “We don’t know anything about this subject so we will not comment,” the official informed Reuters, talking on situation of anonymity.

    Hezbollah is backed by Iran, whose earlier supreme chief, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989 pronounced a fatwa, or non secular edict, calling upon Muslims to kill Rushdie for blasphemy.

    When requested if Matar or his mother and father have been affiliated with or supported Hezbollah, Tehfe stated he had “no information at all” on the political beliefs of the mother and father or Matar.

    Indian-born Rushdie, 75, was off a ventilator and his situation was bettering, his agent and a son stated on Sunday.

    READ | Salman Rushdie occasion host thought assault was ‘unhealthy prank’

    READ | ‘Barbaric, surprising’: Voices in solidarity with Salman Rushdie

    — ENDS —

  • Prosecutor: Stab assault on Salman Rushdie was ‘preplanned’

    The man accused within the stabbing assault on Salman Rushdie pleaded not responsible Saturday to tried homicide and assault costs in what a prosecutor referred to as a “preplanned” crime, because the famend creator of The Satanic Verses remained hospitalised with severe accidents.

    An lawyer for Hadi Matar entered the plea on his behalf throughout an arraignment in western New York. The suspect appeared in courtroom sporting a black and white jumpsuit and a white face masks, together with his fingers cuffed in entrance of him.

    A decide ordered him held with out bail after District Attorney Jason Schmidt instructed her Matar took steps to purposely put himself in place to hurt Rushdie, getting an advance go to the occasion the place the creator was talking and arriving a day early bearing a pretend ID. “This was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr Rushdie,” Schmidt stated.

    Public defender Nathaniel Barone complained that authorities had taken too lengthy to get Matar in entrance of a decide whereas leaving him “hooked up to a bench at the state police barracks.” “He has that constitutional right of presumed innocence,” Barone added.

    Matar, 24, is accused of attacking Rushdie on Friday because the creator was being launched at a lecture on the Chautauqua Institute, a nonprofit training and retreat middle.

    Rushdie, 75, suffered a broken liver and severed nerves in an arm and a watch, and was on a ventilator and unable to talk, his agent Andrew Wylie stated Friday night. Rushdie was prone to lose the injured eye.

    The assault was met with shock and outrage from a lot of the world, together with tributes and reward for the award-winning creator who for greater than 30 years has confronted dying threats for The Satanic Verses.

    Authors, activists and authorities officers cited Rushdie’s braveness and longtime advocacy of free speech regardless of the dangers to his personal security. Writer and longtime good friend Ian McEwan referred to as Rushdie “an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists across the world,” and actor-author Kal Penn cited him as a job mannequin “for an entire generation of artists, especially many of us in the South Asian diaspora toward whom he’s shown incredible warmth.”

    President Joe Biden stated Saturday in an announcement that he and first girl Jill Biden have been “shocked and saddened” by the assault. “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,” the assertion learn. “Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society.”

    Rushdie, a local of India who has since lived in Britain and the US, is thought for his surreal and satirical prose type, starting together with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel Midnight’s Children, by which he sharply criticised India’s then-prime minister, Indira Gandhi. The Satanic Verses drew dying threats after it was printed in 1988, with many Muslims concerning as blasphemy a dream sequence primarily based on the lifetime of the Prophet Muhammad, amongst different objections. Rushdie’s guide had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere earlier than Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s dying in 1989.

    Khomeini died that very same 12 months, however the fatwa stays in impact. Iran’s present supreme chief, Khamenei, by no means issued a fatwa of his personal withdrawing the edict, although Iran in recent times hasn’t centered on the author. Investigators have been working to find out whether or not the assailant, born a decade after “The Satanic Verses” was printed, acted alone.

    District Attorney Schmidt alluded to the fatwa as a possible motive in arguing towards bail. “Even if this court were to set a million dollars bail, we stand a risk that bail could be met,” Schmidt stated. “His resources don’t matter to me. We understand that the agenda that was carried out yesterday is something that was adopted and it’s sanctioned by larger groups and organisations well beyond the jurisdictional borders of Chautauqua County,” the prosecutor stated.

    Barone, the general public defender, stated after the listening to that Matar has been speaking overtly with him and that he would spend the approaching weeks attempting to find out about his consumer, together with whether or not he has psychological or habit points.

    Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey. Rosaria Calabrese, supervisor of the State of Fitness Boxing Club, a small, tightly knit health club in close by North Bergen, stated Matar joined April 11 and took part in about 27 group periods for learners trying to enhance their health earlier than emailing her a number of days in the past to say he needed to cancel his membership as a result of “he wouldn’t be coming back for a while.” Gym proprietor Desmond Boyle stated he noticed “nothing violent” about Matar, describing him as well mannered and quiet, but somebody who all the time regarded “tremendously sad.” He stated Matar resisted makes an attempt by him and others to welcome and interact him. “He had this look every time he came in. It looked like it was the worst day of his life,” Boyle stated.

    Matar was born within the United States to oldsters who emigrated from Yaroun in southern Lebanon, the mayor of the village, Ali Tehfe, instructed The Associated Press. Flags are seen throughout the village of Iran-backed Shia militant group Hezbollah and portraits of chief Hassan Nasrallah, Khamenei, Khomeini and slain Iranian Gen Qassem Soleimani. Journalists visiting Yaroun on Saturday have been requested to go away. Hezbollah spokespeople didn’t reply to requests for remark.

    Iran’s theocratic authorities and its state-run media assigned no motive for the assault. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed by the AP praised the assault on an creator they imagine tarnished the Islamic religion, whereas others frightened it might additional isolate their nation.

    An AP reporter witnessed the attacker stab or punch Rushdie about 10 or 15 occasions. Dr. Martin Haskell, a doctor who was amongst those that rushed to assist, described Rushdie’s wounds as “serious but recoverable.”

    Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, suffered a facial damage and was handled and launched from a hospital, police stated. He and Rushdie had deliberate to debate the United States as a refuge for writers and different artists in exile.

    A state trooper and a county sheriff’s deputy have been assigned to Rushdie’s lecture, and state police stated the trooper made the arrest. But afterward some longtime guests to the middle questioned why there wasn’t tighter safety given the threats towards Rushdie and a bounty of greater than $3 million on his head.

    News concerning the stabbing has led to renewed curiosity in The Satanic Verses, which topped finest vendor lists after the fatwa was issued in 1989. As of Saturday afternoon, the novel ranked No 13 on Amazon.com. The guide’s publication in 1988 sparked often-violent protests across the Muslim world towards Rushdie, who was born to a Muslim household and has lengthy recognized as a nonbeliever, as soon as calling himself “a hardline atheist.”

    At least 45 individuals have been killed in riots, together with 12 in Rushdie’s hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the guide was stabbed to dying and an Italian translator survived a knife assault. In 1993, the guide’s Norwegian writer was shot thrice and survived.

    The dying threats and bounty led Rushdie to enter hiding beneath a British authorities safety program, which included an around-the-clock armed guard. After 9 years of seclusion, Rushdie cautiously resumed extra public appearances, sustaining his outspoken criticism of spiritual extremism total.

    In 2012 he printed a memoir concerning the fatwa titled Joseph Anton, the pseudonym Rushdie used whereas in hiding. He stated throughout a New York discuss that 12 months that terrorism was actually the artwork of concern: “The only way you can defeat it is by deciding not to be afraid.”

  • Salman Rushdie on life help after stabbing, Iranian newspapers reward assailant | Top Points

    Author Salman Rushdie, whose writing led to loss of life threats from Iran within the Nineteen Eighties, is on life help after Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from New Jersey, stabbed the writer within the neck at a literary occasion in western New York on Friday, August 12.

    Rushdie was placed on a ventilator after hours of surgical procedure and the nerves in his arms had been severed. Rushdie’s liver was stabbed and broken, his e book agent, Andrew Wylie, informed the media.

    The assault on Rushdie comes greater than 30 years after Iranian chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s loss of life over his e book ‘The Satanic Verses’. The e book has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims contemplate it to be blasphemous.

    READ | Salman Rushdie stabbed in neck, suffered head damage: New York Police

    The attacker, Hadi Matar, is going through fees of tried homicide and assault. A preliminary evaluate of Matar’s social media accounts by regulation enforcement confirmed him to be sympathetic to Shia extremism and the causes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. New York state Police are working with the FBI and native authorities to find out the motive.

    As the world condemned the assault on Rushdie, a number of hardline Iranian newspapers poured reward on Hadi Matar, Reuters reported.

    The hardline Kayhan newspaper, whose editor-in-chief is appointed by Iran’s Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, wrote: A thousand bravos to the courageous and dutiful one that attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie in New York. The hand of the person who tore the neck of God’s enemy have to be kissed.

    ALSO READ | Praise, fear in Iran after Rushdie assault; authorities quiet

    Meanwhile, the New York venue is going through scrutiny over the safety preparations put in place for the literary occasion. Western New York’s Chautauqua institute had rejected suggestions for fundamental safety measures, resembling bag checks and steel detectors, fearing that may create a divide between audio system and the viewers, sources near the institute informed CNN.

    There had been no safety searches or steel detectors on the occasion, an individual who witnessed the assault informed CNN on the situation of anonymity. The institute is but to answer the allegations.

    The assault on Salman Rushdie is appalling. We’re all praying for his speedy restoration. And we’re grateful to good residents and first responders for serving to him so swiftly.

    — Jake Sullivan (@JakeSullivan46) August 13, 2022

    US National Security Advisor Jake Sulliving denounced the “appalling” assault and mentioned members of the US administration had been praying for his speedy restoration.

    A profusely bleeding Rushdie was airlifted on Friday to a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania and underwent surgical procedure for a number of hours. At the time of writing, Rushdie’s well being situation remained essential.

    — ENDS —

  • Salman Rushdie’s attacker faces fees of tried homicide, assault

    A 24-year-old man who stabbed Mumbai-born writer Salman Rushdie is dealing with fees of tried homicide and assault.

    Hadi Matar (24) being taken away by authorities after he attacked writer Salman Rushdie. (Image: Twitter)

    HIGHLIGHTSHadi Matar, who stabbed Salman Rushdie, faces fees of tried homicide and assaultOn Friday, the Bureau of Criminal Investigation arrested the attackerMatar was processed at SP Jamestown and transported to Chautauqua County Jail

    A 24-year-old New Jersey man who stabbed Mumbai-born writer Salman Rushdie at a literary occasion in New York state is dealing with fees of tried homicide and assault, police mentioned on Saturday.

    The New York State Police Jamestown, which is investigating the assault previous to a talking occasion on the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, mentioned that on Friday the Bureau of Criminal Investigation arrested Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey for “attempted murder 2nd degree and assault 2nd degree”.

    Matar was processed at SP Jamestown and transported to Chautauqua County Jail and might be arraigned in centralised arraignment on Saturday.

    Meanwhile, Chautauqua County Executive Paul Wendel in a press release mentioned on behalf of all Chautauqua County residents, he extends his ideas and prayers to the household and mates of Rushdie.

    “The small tranquil community of the Chautauqua Institution has been shaken to its core by an act of violence, which has reverberated across Chautauqua County and Western New York. It is disappointing that we live in a society where we cannot listen to the differences of others, especially in a place like the Institution where thinkers and problem solvers from around the world come to share their stories,” he mentioned.

    Wendel thanked the entire emergency and regulation enforcement companies who he mentioned have accomplished an amazing job in responding to this horrific occasion. “It is through their quick response that they were able to mitigate the situation and capture the alleged assailant.” Rushdie, who confronted Islamist loss of life threats for years after writing “The Satanic Verses”, was stabbed by Matar on stage whereas he was being launched at a literary occasion of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York, sending shockwaves throughout the literary world which condemned the incident as an assault on freedom of expression.

    He was on a ventilator with broken liver and will lose a watch, the 75-year-old author’s agent, Andrew Wylie, has advised the New York Times.

    — ENDS —

  • Salman Rushdie assault: Praise, fear in Iran as authorities stays quiet

    Iranians reacted with reward and fear on Saturday over the assault on novelist Salman Rushdie, the goal of a decades-old fatwa by the late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for his demise.

    It stays unclear why Rushdie’s attacker, recognized by police as Hadi Mattar of Fairview, New Jersey, stabbed the writer as he ready to talk at an occasion on Friday in western New York.

    Iran’s theocratic authorities and its state-run media have assigned no motive to the assault.

    But in Tehran, some keen to talk to The Associated Press supplied reward for an assault focusing on a author they imagine tarnished the Islamic religion together with his 1988 ebook “The Satanic Verses”.

    In the streets of Iran’s capital, photos of the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini nonetheless peer down at passers-by.

    The second Salman Rushdie’s attacker was led off stage on the @chq. Via @AP.

    For greater than a century the Chautauqua Institution has been a summer time oasis for reflection, examine and prayer. Today it’s additionally against the law scene. pic.twitter.com/wP6J7doF1Y

    — Joshua Goodman (@APjoshgoodman) August 12, 2022

    “I don’t know Salman Rushdie, but I am happy to hear that he was attacked since he insulted Islam,” stated Reza Amiri, a 27-year-old deliveryman. “This is the fate for anybody who insults sanctities.” Others, nevertheless, apprehensive aloud that Iran might develop into much more lower off from the world as tensions stay excessive over its tattered nuclear deal.

    “I feel those who did it are trying to isolate Iran,” stated Mahshid Barati, a 39-year-old geography trainer. “This will negatively affect relations with many — even Russia and China.” Khomeini, ill within the final 12 months of his life after the grinding, stalemate Eighties Iran-Iraq conflict decimated the nation’s financial system, issued the fatwa on Rushdie in 1989.

    The Islamic edict got here amid a violent uproar within the Muslim world over the novel, which some seen as blasphemously making recommendations in regards to the Prophet Muhammad’s life.

    “I would like to inform all the intrepid Muslims in the world that the author of the book entitled Satanic Verses’ … as well as those publishers who were aware of its contents, are hereby sentenced to death,” Khomeini stated in February 1989, in line with Tehran Radio.

    This June 4, 2007 file picture reveals Iranians in Tehran attending ceremonies on the 18th anniversary of the demise of Iran’s late chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, exterior his shrine. (AP, File)

    He added: “Whoever is killed doing this will be regarded as a martyr and will go directly to heaven.” Early on Saturday, Iranian state media made some extent to notice one man recognized as being killed whereas attempting to hold out the fatwa.

    Lebanese nationwide Mustafa Mahmoud Mazeh died when a ebook bomb he had prematurely exploded in a London resort on August 3, 1989, simply over 33 years in the past.

    At newstands on Saturday, front-page headlines supplied their very own takes on the assault.

    The hard-line Vatan-e Emrouz’s predominant story coated what it described as: “A knife in the neck of Salman Rushdie.” The reformist newspaper Etemad’s headline requested: “Salman Rushdie in neighbourhood of death?” But the fifteenth Khordad Foundation — which put the over USD 3 million bounty on Rushdie — remained quiet at the beginning of the working week.

    File picture of novelist Salman Rushdie (AP)

    Staffers there declined to right away remark to the AP, referring inquiries to an official not within the workplace.

    The basis, whose identify refers back to the 1963 protests in opposition to Iran’s former shah by Khomeini’s supporters, usually focuses on offering assist to the disabled and others affected by conflict.

    But it, like different foundations often called “bonyads” in Iran funded partially by confiscated belongings from the shah’s time, usually serve the political pursuits of the nation’s hard-liners.

    Reformists in Iran, those that need to slowly liberalise the nation’s Shiite theocracy from inside and have higher relations with the West, have sought to distance the nation’s authorities from the edict.

    Law enforcement officers detain Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, exterior the Chautauqua Institution, August 12, 2022, in Chautauqua, New York. (AP)

    Notably, reformist President Mohammad Khatami’s overseas minister in 1998 stated that the “government disassociates itself from any reward which has been offered in this regard and does not support it”.

    Rushdie slowly started to re-emerge into public life round that point. But some in Iran have by no means forgotten the fatwa in opposition to him.

    On Saturday, Mohammad Mahdi Movaghar, a 34-year-old Tehran resident, described having a “good feeling” after seeing Rushdie attacked.

    “This is pleasing and shows those who insult the sacred things of we Muslims, in addition to punishment in the hereafter, will get punished in this world too at the hands of people,” he stated.

    Others, nevertheless, apprehensive the assault — no matter why it was carried out — might harm Iran because it tries to barter over its nuclear take care of world powers.

    Since then-President Donald Trump unilaterally withdrew America from the accord in 2018, Tehran has seen its rial forex plummet and its financial system crater.

    Meanwhile, Tehran enriches uranium now nearer than ever to weapons-grade ranges amid a collection of assaults throughout the Mideast.

    “It will make Iran more isolated,” warned former Iranian diplomat Mashallah Sefatzadeh.

    While fatwas might be revised or revoked, Iran’s present Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei who took over after Khomeini has by no means achieved so.

    “The decision made about Salman Rushdie is still valid,” Khamenei stated in 1989. “As I have already said, this is a bullet for which there is a target. It has been shot. It will one day sooner or later hit the target.” As lately as February 2017, Khamenei tersely answered this query posed to him: “Is the fatwa on the apostasy of the cursed liar Salman Rushdie still in effect? What is a Muslim’s duty in this regard?”

    Khamenei responded: “The decree is as Imam Khomeini issued.”

  • Suspect in Rushdie’s stabbing confirmed sympathy to causes of Iran’s Revolutionary Guards: Report

    The 24-year-old man detained in reference to the stabbing of Mumbai-born controversial creator Salman Rushdie was sympathetic to “Shia extremism” and the causes of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps, in keeping with a media report.

    Rushdie, who confronted Islamist dying threats for years after writing “The Satanic Verses”, was stabbed on stage on Friday whereas he was being launched on the occasion of the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York.

    The New York State Police recognized the suspect as Hadi Matar from Fairview, New Jersey whereas the motive behind the act remains to be unknown.

    The suspect ran up onto the stage previous to a talking occasion on the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua and attacked 75-year-old Rushdie.

    According to the legislation enforcement authorities, the creator was stabbed “at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen.”

    Rushdie was rushed to a nearby local hospital where he underwent surgery, while the attacker was taken into the New York State Police custody. The interviewer with Rushdie was also attacked during the incident and he suffered a minor head injury, the police said.

    Authorities were still looking into Matar’s nationality and his criminal records, if any.

    A preliminary review of Matar’s social media accounts by law enforcement showed him to be sympathetic to Shia extremism and the causes of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a law enforcement person with direct knowledge of the investigation told NBC News.

    Though there are no direct links between Matar and the IRGC, law enforcement officers reportedly found images of slain commander Qassem Solemani and an Iraqi extremist sympathetic to the Iranian regime in a cell phone messaging app belonging to Matar, according to NBC News.

    Soleimani was a senior Iranian military officer who served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. From 1998 until his assassination in 2020.

    Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses has been banned in Iran since 1988, as many Muslims consider it offensive to Islam.

    The author spent about 10 years under police protection in the United Kingdom, living in hiding after Iran’s late leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s execution.

    A bounty of over USD 3 million has been offered for anyone who kills Rushdie, who has been a prominent spokesman for free expression and liberal causes.

    Since 2000, Rushdie has lived in the United States.

    Rushdie was being introduced at about 10:45 am when the assault happened, CNN quoted a witness as saying

    The witness said he heard shouting from the audience.

    He said a man in a black shirt appeared to be “punching” the author. The witness, who was 75 feet from the stage, did not hear the attacker say anything or see a weapon.

    Some people in the audience ran to render aid while others went after the attacker, the witness said. State police said a doctor who was in the audience during the event rendered aid to Rushdie until emergency responders arrived.

    New York Gov Kathy Hochul told reporters Friday a state trooper “stood up and saved (Rushdie’s) life and guarded him in addition to the moderator who was attacked as effectively.”

    One witness of the attack told CNN there were no security searches or metal detectors at the event.

    The suspect in Friday’s attack had a “move to entry the grounds,” Dr Michael E Hill, president of the Chautauqua Institution, said in the news conference. Guests can purchase passes to attend programs, Hill said.

    Hill defended the institution’s measures, saying, “We assess for each occasion what we predict the suitable safety degree is, and this one was definitely one which we thought was essential which is why we had a State Trooper and Sheriff presence there,” he said.

    Staniszewski said there was no indication of any threat to the event and the state trooper was there because the event was a mass gathering and because of a request by the institution.

    Joyce Lussier, 83, who was in the second row of the amphitheater during the attack, said Rushdie had taken a seat on the right-hand side of the stage when suddenly, a man who appeared to be in all black “lurched throughout the stage and received proper to Rushdie.”

    “They caught him instantly, he didn’t get off the stage in any respect,” Lussier said of the suspect. “Shortly after, the gang was requested to evacuate, ” she added.

    Another witness, a longtime Chautauqua resident who asked not to be identified, recalled a commotion on stage and a man making about seven to 10 stabbing motions in the direction of the author, who was in a half-standing position. She said she fled the open-air amphitheater “shaking like a leaf” in concern.

    Also Read | Salman Rushdie could lose eye after assault in New York, is on life assist

    — ENDS —

  • Who is the 24-year-old man who attacked Salman Rushdie?

    Minutes after writer Salman Rushdie was stabbed on Friday, police took a 24-year-old man into custody. Rushdie, an Indian-origin best-selling writer based mostly within the UK, was attacked at a ebook occasion at New York’s Chautauqua Institution on Friday night. Eyewitnesses stated the incident occurred minutes after the writer took his seat on the stage and was about to be launched.

    The 75-year-old, who was born in Bombay, has confronted Islamist demise threats for years for writing the novel ‘The Satanic Verses’. The ebook was banned shortly after publication in a number of international locations, together with India, and triggered a fatwa in opposition to Rushdie by Iran’s then Supreme Leader.

    “A man jumped up on the stage from I don’t know where and started what looked like beating him on the chest, repeated fist strokes into his chest and neck,” Bradley Fisher, who was within the viewers, advised information company Reuters. Shortly afterwards, the attacker was taken into police custody. Here’s what we all know of him.

    Who stabbed Salman Rushdie?

    Law enforcement officers have recognized the attacker as Hadi Matar. The 24-year-old man reportedly hails from New Jersey.

    A plain-clothed police officer stands close to the doorway of the constructing the place alleged attacker of Salman Rushdie, Hadi Matar, lives in Fairview, New Jersey, US, August 12, 2022. (Reuters)

    Police didn’t describe the weapon used. They stated they haven’t zeroed in on the motive. “But we are working with the FBI, the Sheriff’s Office and we will determine what the cause of this was and what the motive for this attack was,” stated Major Eugene Staniszewski of the New York State Police, reported PTI.

    How the occasions unfolded

    Staniszewski stated at 10.47 am native time (8.17 pm IST), Rushdie had simply arrived on stage on the Chautauqua Institution for the occasion.

    “Shortly thereafter, the suspect jumped onto the stage and attacked Rushdie, stabbing him at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen,” he stated.

    Police recognized the person who attacked writer Salman Rushdie as Hadi Matar. He was arrested on the scene and was awaiting arraignment.

    State police Major Eugene J. Staniszewski stated the motive for the stabbing was unclear.https://t.co/zpbIbfBzWp pic.twitter.com/vpoIkImXk8

    — The Associated Press (@AP) August 12, 2022

    Staniszewski stated a number of members of the workers on the establishment and viewers members rushed the suspect and took him to the bottom. A trooper with the New York State Police, who was on the establishment, took the suspect into custody with the help of a Chautauqua County Sheriff’s deputy.

    Photographs confirmed a person, carrying a military fatigue shirt and jacket and sporting a buzzcut being frog-marched to a police car.

    Where is Matar from?

    While addressing a press convention, Staniszewski was requested of Matar’s nationality, to which he replied: “I don’t know yet.”

    He stated authorities are within the “process of obtaining search warrants for various items. There was a backpack located at the scene. There was also electronic devices”. He added that in the intervening time, it’s assumed that the suspect was “working alone”.

    Rushdie was supplied with fast assist by a physician who was current within the viewers, and was later tended to by the emergency companies and airlifted to a hospital, stated the police.