A court in New York ordered that the man accused in the stabbing attack on novelist Salman Rushdie remain held.
Hadi Matar was arraigned at the Chautauqua County Courthouse on an indictment returned earlier by a grand jury that charged him with one count of second-degree attempted murder, which carries a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison, and one count of second-degree assault.
He has been in jail since his arrest and wore a gray-striped jumpsuit, a white COVID-19 face mask and his hands were shackled.
The 75-year-old India-born writer was attacked on stage last Friday as he was preparing to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution.
Rushdie was stabbed at least 10 times. He’s since been taken off a ventilator and is said to be “on the road to recovery.”
“When I heard he survived, I was surprised, I guess,” Matar said in a video interview from the Chautauqua County Jail.
The 24-year-old was mum on whether he was inspired by the late Iranian supreme leader Khomeini issuing a fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death in 1989 over the author’s book “The Satanic Verses”.
“I respect Khomeini. I think he’s a great person,” Matar said, noting he only “read like two pages,” of Rushdie’s novel.
