The author of “The Satanic Verses”, Salman Rushdie, was put on a ventilator and was able to speak on Saturday, the day after he was stabbed while preparing to give a presentation in upstate New York.
Rushdie remains hospitalized with serious injuries, but co-author Aatish Taseer tweeted later in the evening that he was “off the ventilator and talking (and joking).” Rushdie’s representative, Andrew Wylie, confirmed that information without providing further details.
Earlier in the day, the man who allegedly assaulted him Friday at the Chautauqua Institute, a nonprofit retreat and education center, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and the assault charges that a Prosecutors call the crime “pre-planned”.
An attorney for Hadi Matar pleaded guilty on his behalf in a settlement in western New York. The suspect appeared in court with a black and white overalls and a white mask, his hands cuffed in front of him.
A judge ordered his detention without bail after District Attorney Jason Schmidt told Ms Matar, 24, had taken steps to knowingly put herself in a position to harm Rushdie, getting tickets before the event the author was speaking and arrived a day early to bring the dummy. I.
“This was a targeted, unprovoked, pre-planned attack on Mr Rushdie,” Schmidt said.
Defender Nathaniel Barone complained that it took authorities too long to arrest Matar before the judge while letting him “caught up on the bench at the state police barracks.”
“He has a constitutional right to be presumed innocent,” Barone added.
Rushdie, 75, suffered liver damage and severed nerves in one arm and one eye, Wylie said Friday night. He likely lost his injured eye.
The attack was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with words of gratitude and praise for the award-winning author, who for more than 30 years has faced threats. death for “The Satanic Verses”.
Authors, activists and government officials have cited Rushdie’s courage and longstanding support for free speech despite the risks to his own safety. Writer and longtime friend Ian McEwan calls Rushdie “an inspirational defender of persecuted writers and journalists around the world,” and actor and author Kal Penn sees him as a role model. “for a whole generation of artists, especially many of us in South Asia. diaspora to whom he exudes incredible warmth.”
President Joe Biden on Saturday said in a statement that he and first lady Jill Biden were “shocked and saddened” by the attack.
“Salman Rushdie – with his insight into the person, with his unparalleled sense of narrative, with his refusal to be intimidated or silenced – is representative of essential, universal ideals,” the statement said. write. “Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the cornerstones of any free and open society.”
Rushdie, a native of India living in Britain and the US, is known for his satirical and surreal prose style, beginning with the 1981 Booker Prize-winning novel “Midnight Children”, in which he harshly criticized the Prime Minister of India at that time. , Indira Gandhi.
“The Satanic Verses” attracted death threats after it was published in 1988, with many Muslims desecrating a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad, among the objections. for another. Rushdie’s book was banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before the Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a decree, aka Rushdie’s death, in 1989.
Khomeini died that same year, but the fatwa is still in effect. The current supreme leader of Iran, Khamenei, has never issued a statement withdrawing his decree, although Iran in recent years has not focused on the writer.
Investigators are working to determine whether the suspect, born a decade after “The Satanic Verses” was published, acted alone.
Schmidt County District Attorney alluded to the fatwa as a potential motive in arguing against bail.
“Even if the court issues a million dollars in bail, we run the risk that the bail could be bailed,” Schmidt said.
“His resources are not important to me. We understand that the agenda made yesterday is something that has been adopted and that it is accepted beyond the larger groups and organizations. beyond the legal boundaries of Chautauqua County,” the prosecutor said.
Barone, the public defender, said after the hearing that Matar had communicated openly with him and that he would spend the coming weeks trying to learn about his client, including whether he have psychological problems or addictions.
Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey. Rosaria Calabrese, manager of the State of Fitness Boxing Club, a small, tight-knit gym in nearby North Bergen, said Matar joined on April 11 and attended about 27 sessions for beginners. initially wanted to improve their fitness before emailing her a few days ago to say he wanted to cancel his membership because “he won’t be back for a while.”
Gym owner Desmond Boyle said he found Matar “nothing violent”, describing him as polite and quiet, but someone who always looked “extremely sad.” He said Matar resisted efforts by himself and others to welcome and engage with him.
“He had this look every time he walked in. It seemed like the worst day of his life,” Boyle said.
Matar was born in the United States to parents who emigrated from Yaroun in southern Lebanon, the village’s mayor, Ali Tehfe, told the Associated Press.
Flags of the Iran-backed Shia rebel group Hezbollah can be seen throughout the village, along with portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Khamenei, Khomeini and the slain Iranian general Qassem Soleimani.
Journalists who visited Yaroun on Saturday were asked to leave. A spokesman for Hezbollah did not respond to a request for comment.
Iran’s theocratic government and its state media did not identify a motive for the attack. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed by the AP praised the attack on an author they believe had tarnished the Muslim faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country. .
On Friday, on the AP, the reporter witnessed the attacker stabbing or punching Rushdie about 10 or 15 times.
Event moderator Henry Reese, 73, suffered facial injuries and was treated and released from the hospital, police said. He and Rushdie planned to discuss how the United States was a refuge for other writers and artists in exile.
A state trooper and a deputy county sheriff were assigned to Rushdie’s lecture, and police said the soldier made the arrest. But then, some longtime visitors to the Chautauqua Institution questioned why there wasn’t tighter security in light of the threats against Rushdie and the more than $3 million bounty on his head.
On Saturday, the center said it was increasing security through measures such as requiring a photo ID to purchase tickets through the gate, which could previously be obtained anonymously. Patrons entering the amphitheater where Rushdie was attacked will also be banned from carrying bags of any kind.
These changes, coupled with the increasing presence of armed police officers in the building area, came as a shock to the Chautauquans, who had long enjoyed the relaxed atmosphere. roof for which the nearly 150-year-old resort colony is known.
News of the stabbing led to a renewed interest in “Satanic Verses,” which topped the bestseller list after Fatwa was released in 1989. As of Saturday afternoon, the novel ranked 13th on Amazon.com.
The death threats and bounty that Rushdie faced with the book after its publication led him to go into hiding under a British government protection program that included an armed security team throughout. day and night. After nine years of seclusion, Rushdie cautiously continued to make more public appearances.
In 2012, he published a memoir about Fatwa titled “Joseph Anton”, the pseudonym he used while in hiding.
He said in a talk in New York that year that terrorism is truly the art of fear: “The only way you can defeat it is to decide not to fear.”
