Rushdie's attacker says homicide bid carried out with none contact with Iran | World News

The 24-year-old man charged with the tried homicide of Salman Rushdie has denied being in touch with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and stated that he acted alone when he stabbed the Mumbai-born writer, whom he disliked for being "disingenuous".

Hadi Matar, of Fairview in New Jersey, was arrested final week and charged with second-degree tried homicide and assault after he stabbed Rushdie, 75, onstage at an occasion on the Chautauqua Establishment in New York state.

In a video interview to the New York Put up from Chautauqua County Jail, Matar stated that “Once I heard he survived, I used to be stunned, I assume.”

Rushdie suffered three stab wounds to his neck, 4 stab wounds to his abdomen, puncture wounds to his proper eye and chest, and a laceration on his proper thigh, Chautauqua County District Lawyer Jason Schmidt stated in the course of the suspect's arraignment.

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Matar didn't reply on whether or not he was impressed by Iranian supreme chief Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who had issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s loss of life in 1989 after “The Satanic Verses” was revealed.

“I respect the Ayatollah. I feel he’s an awesome particular person. That’s so far as I'll say about that,” Matar advised The Put up.

He famous that he had solely “learn like two pages” of Rushdie’s controversial novel. “I learn a few pages. I didn’t learn the entire thing cowl to cowl,” he stated.

The report stated that Matar, who was born within the US to oldsters from southern Lebanon, denied being in touch with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC) and alluded to performing utterly alone.

The IRGC is a significant navy and political drive in Iran. Nevertheless, no hyperlink has been definitively established between Matar and the IRGC.

Matar stated he was impressed to go to Chautauqua after seeing a tweet someday within the winter saying Rushdie’s go to.

“I don’t just like the particular person. I don’t assume he’s an excellent particular person,” he stated about Rushdie. “I don’t like him. I don’t like him very a lot. “He’s somebody who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the assumption methods,” The Put up report stated.

Matar stated he was much less conversant in Rushdie’s written work however had watched his movies on YouTube.

“I noticed a whole lot of lectures,” he stated. “I don’t like people who find themselves disingenuous like that.”

Within the almost 15-minute-long interview to The Put up Wednesday, Matar spoke about how he took a bus from New Jersey to Buffalo a day earlier than the Friday assault, after which grabbed a trip to Chautauqua.

“I used to be hanging round just about. Not doing something particularly, simply strolling round,” Matar stated, including that he “slept within the grass exterior Thursday night time, a day earlier than the assault.

“I used to be simply exterior the entire time.”

Public defender Nathaniel Barone, who represents Matar, has stated that he pleaded not responsible to expenses of second-degree tried homicide and second-degree assault with intent to trigger bodily damage with a lethal weapon.