Stabbing Suspect Salman Rushdie Pleads Not Guilty To Charges Of Attempted Murder

Salman Rushdie. (Wikimedia Commons/Alexander Baxevanis)

JAKARTA - The suspect in the stabbing of novelist Salman Rushdie in western New York, United States last week, pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted second-degree murder and assault charges in a court Thursday.

Suspect Hadi Matar (24) is accused of stabbing Rushdie, 75, moments before the author of "The Satanic Verses" gave a lecture on stage, at an educational retreat near Lake Erie.

Matar was indicted at the Chautauqua Courthouse on charges returned earlier in the day by a grand jury that charged him with one count of attempted second-degree murder, which carries a maximum prison sentence of 25 years. And second-degree assault charges.

He has been in prison since his arrest. Judge David Foley ordered Matar not to have contact with Rushdie, and agreed to his defense attorney's request to issue a temporary gag order, barring the parties from discussing the case in the media.

Additionally, Judge Foley said he would consider the defense's request to release Matar on bail. Currently, he is being held without bail. Matar will return for another trial next month.

In an interview published by the New York Post on Wednesday, Matar said he respected Khomeini (Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran's late supreme leader), but would not say whether he was inspired by Khomeini's fatwas.

What Matar meant was the fatwa issued by Khomeini 33 years ago, which called for Muslims to kill Rushdie months after "The Satanic Verses" was published. He said he had 'read a few pages' of the book and watched YouTube videos of the author.

The book is seen as offensive to Muslims, because it contains ridicule of the Prophet Muhammad and other aspects of Islam.

"I didn't really like it," Matar said of Rushdie, as reported by the Post. "He is someone who is attacking Islam, he is attacking their belief, the belief system."

In 1998, President Mohammad Khatami's pro-reform Iranian government distanced itself from the fatwa, saying the threat against Rushdie had ended.

But in 2019, Twitter suspended the account of Iran's current Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, over a tweet that said the fatwa against Rushdie was 'solid and irrevocable'.

Separately, Iran's Foreign Ministry reiterated on Monday that Tehran should not be accused of involvement in the attack. Meanwhile, the police believe that Matar acted alone.