A suspect was taken into custody a short time later, and authorities are working to determine a motive and charges, state police said. After the attack, questions were raised about the security precautions — or lack thereof — at the host institution, which is located in a rural lake resort about 70 miles south of Buffalo, New York. The foundation’s leadership had rejected recommendations for basic security measures, including bag checks and metal detectors, fearing it would create a divide between speakers and the audience, according to two sources who spoke to CNN. The leadership also feared it would change the culture at the institution, the sources said. The two sources have direct knowledge of the security situation at the Chautauqua Foundation and previous recommendations and spoke to CNN on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to speak publicly. It is unclear whether the recommended measures would have prevented the attack on Rushdie based on information released about the incident since Friday night. Authorities have not disclosed the type of weapon used in the attack. There were no security searches or metal detectors at the event, a person who witnessed the attack told CNN. The witness is not being identified because they expressed concerns for their personal safety. CNN reached out to the Chautauqua Foundation and its leadership for comment, but did not hear back Friday. Foundation president Michael Hill defended his organization’s security plans when asked during a news conference Friday if more precautions would be taken at future events. “We evaluate for every event what we think is the appropriate level of security and this was certainly one that we felt was important and that’s why we had a State Trooper and Sheriff presence there,” Hill said. “We will assess for each of the events at the Foundation what we believe is the appropriate level of security and this is an ongoing process that we are working on in conjunction with local law enforcement.” Also injured Friday was Henry Rees, co-founder of the Pittsburgh nonprofit City of Asylum, who was going to join Rushdie in a discussion, police said. He was taken to the hospital and treated for a facial injury and released. Rushdie’s writings have won many literary prizes, including the Booker Prize for his book Midnight’s Children in 1981. But it was his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, that attracted the most scrutiny as some Muslims found it book was sacrilegious and its publication in 1988 sparked public protests. The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who described the book as an insult to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, issued a religious edict, or fatwa, calling for Rushdie’s death in 1989.
Authorities were at the New Jersey home associated with the suspect
The suspect in the attack has been identified as Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, New York State Trooper Commander Maj. Eugene J. Staniszewski said Friday night during a news conference. The attack happened around 10:45 a.m. when Rushdie was brought in, a witness told CNN. A man in a black shirt appeared to “punch” the author. The witness, who was about 75 feet from the scene, did not hear the shooter say anything or see a weapon. Another witness, Joyce Lussier, was sitting in the second row when she saw a man who “pulled across the stage and came straight at Mr Rushdie. “He came in on the left side and jumped across the stage and just fell on top of it. I don’t know, in two seconds he was across from that stage,” Lussier said. He heard people screaming and crying and saw people in the audience rushing up to the stage, he said. Matar, 24, allegedly stabbed Rushdie at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen, state police said. Staff and audience members rushed to the shooter and tackled him to the ground before a state trooper took him into custody, police said. By Friday night, police had blocked off the road to the New Jersey home believed to be connected to the suspect.
Iran’s generosity never waned
Rushdie, the son of a successful Muslim businessman in India, was educated in England, first at Rugby School and later at Cambridge University where he received a master’s degree in history. After college, he began working as an advertising copywriter in London before publishing his first novel, Grimus, in 1975. In 1989, as a result of the fatwa, Rushdie began a decade under British protection. Rushdie told CNN in 1999 that the experience taught him “to value even more … strongly the things I valued before, like the art of literature and freedom of expression and the right to say things that other people don’t like . “It may have been an unpleasant decade, but it was the right fight, you know. It was fighting for the things I believe in most against the things I dislike most, like bigotry, bigotry and censorship.” The bounty against Rushdie has never been lifted, although in 1998 the Iranian government tried to distance itself from the fatwa, pledging not to seek to implement it. Nevertheless, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei recently confirmed the religious decree. In February 2017, on Khamenei’s official website, the Supreme Leader was asked if “the fatwa against Rushdi was still valid”, to which Khamenei confirmed that it was, saying: “The decree is as issued by Imam Khomeini.” Ray Sanchez, Adam Thomas, Kristina Sgueglia, Samantha Beech, Lauren Said-Moorhouse, Liam Reilly, David Romain, Nicki Brown, Mark Morales, Christina Maxouris, Jonny Hallam, and Artemis Moshtaghian contributed to this report.
