The man accused of stabbing “Satanic Verses” author Salman Rushdie has pleaded not guilty in a New York court to charges of attempted murder and assault. A lawyer for Hadi Matar, 24, entered the plea on his behalf during a hearing. Matar appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white face mask. His hands were handcuffed in front of him. Matar is accused of attacking Rushdie on Friday as the author presented a lecture at the Chautauqua Institute. Rushdie was seriously injured in the attack and remains in hospital. THIS IS AN UPDATE UPDATE. Previous AP story follows below. MAYVILLE, New York — Salman Rushdie remained hospitalized Saturday after suffering serious injuries in a knife attack, which was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for the award-winning author who for more than For 30 years he has faced death threats for his novel The Satanic Verses. Rushdie, 75, suffered liver damage, severed nerves in an arm and an eye, and was on a ventilator and unable to speak, his agent Andrew Wylie said on Friday night. Rushdie was likely to lose the injured eye. Rushdie’s alleged assailant, Hadi Mattar, was due in court on Saturday to face charges of attempted murder and assault, authorities said. A message was left with his attorney seeking comment. Writers, activists and government officials condemned the attack and cited Rushdie’s courage in his long-standing defense of free speech despite risks to his own safety. Rushdie’s fellow writer and longtime friend Ian McGewan called him “an inspirational champion of persecuted writers and journalists around the world” and actor-writer Cal Penn cited him as a role model “for a whole generation of artists, especially many of us the South Asian diaspora towards which he has shown incredible warmth.’ Matar, 24, was arrested after the attack at the Chautauqua Foundation, a nonprofit education and retreat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak. Authorities said Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey. He was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who immigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, the village’s mayor, Ali Tehfe, told The Associated Press. Flags of the Iranian-backed Shiite militant group Hezbollah and portraits of leader Hassan Nasrallah, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, his late predecessor Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and slain Iranian general Qassem Soleimani can be seen throughout the village. The village also has a small Christian population. Rushdie, an Indian who has since lived in Britain and the US, is known for his surreal and satirical prose style, beginning with his Booker Prize-winning 1981 novel Midnight’s Children, in which he scathingly criticized then-Prime Minister , Indira Gandhi. The Satanic Verses drew death threats after its publication in 1988, with many Muslims considering a dream sequence based on the life of the Prophet Muhammad as blasphemous, among other objections. Rushdie’s book had already been banned and burned in India, Pakistan and elsewhere before Iran’s Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a 1989 fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death. Khomeini died the same year he issued the fatwa, which remains in effect. Iran’s current supreme leader, Khamenei, has never issued a fatwa to withdraw the decree, although Iran in recent years has not focused on the author. Investigators were working to determine whether the perpetrator, born a decade after “The Satanic Verses” was published, acted alone. Journalists present in Yaroun, the village from which the suspect’s parents immigrated, were told to leave on Saturday. Hezbollah spokesmen did not respond to AP questions about Mattar and the Rushdie attack. Iran’s theocratic government and state media have not offered any rationale for the attack. In Tehran, some Iranians interviewed by the AP praised the attack on a writer they believe tarnished the Islamic faith, while others worried it would further isolate their country. An AP reporter saw the attacker confront Rushdie on stage and stab or punch him 10 to 15 times as the author presented. Dr Martin Haskell, a doctor who was among those who rushed to help, described Rushdie’s injuries as “serious but recoverable”. Event coordinator Henry Rees, 73, co-founder of an organization that offers housing to writers facing persecution, was also attacked. Reese suffered a facial injury and was treated and released from the hospital, police said. He and Rushdie had planned to discuss the United States as a haven for writers and other artists in exile. A state trooper and a county sheriff’s deputy were assigned to Rushdy’s lecture, and state police said the trooper made the arrest. But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn’t tighter security for the event, given the threats against Rushdie and a bounty on his head that offered more than $3 million for whoever killed him. Matar, like other visitors, had received a pass to enter the Chautauqua Foundation’s 750-acre grounds, said Michael Hill, the foundation’s president. Rabbi Charles Savenor was among the approximately 2,500 people in the audience for Rushdie’s appearance. The assailant ran onto the stand “and started pounding on Mr. Rushdie. At first you’re like, ‘What’s going on?’ And then it became clear within seconds that he was being hit,” Savenor said. He said the attack lasted about 20 seconds. Another onlooker, Kathleen James, said the attacker was dressed in black, wearing a black mask. Amid fumes, the spectators were ushered out of the outdoor amphitheater. The stabbing reverberated from the quiet town of Chautauqua to the United Nations, which issued a statement expressing the horror of UN Secretary-General Antonio Guterres and stressing that free expression and opinion should not be met with violence. Iran’s mission to the United Nations did not immediately respond to a request for comment on Friday’s attack, which led to an evening newscast on Iranian state television. From the White House, National Security Adviser Jake Sullivan called the attack “reprehensible” and said the Biden administration wished Rushdie a speedy recovery. Following the publication of “The Satanic Verses,” often violent protests broke out across the Muslim world against Rushdie, who was born in India to a Muslim family and has long been identified as an infidel, once calling himself a “hard-line atheist.” . .” At least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, including 12 in Rushdie’s hometown of Mumbai. In 1991, a Japanese translator of the book was stabbed to death and an Italian translator survived a knife attack. In 1993, the book’s Norwegian publisher was shot three times and survived. Threats to his life and a reward led Rushdie to go into hiding under a British government protection scheme, which included a 24-hour armed guard. Rushdie emerged after nine years in seclusion and cautiously resumed more public appearances, maintaining his outspoken criticism of religious extremism overall. In 2012, Rushdie published the memoir “Joseph Anton”, about the fatwa. The title came from the pseudonym Rushdie used when in hiding. He said during a speech in New York the same year the memoir was released that terrorism was really the art of fear. “The only way to beat it is to decide not to be afraid,” he said. The Chautauqua Foundation, about 89 kilometers southwest of Buffalo in a rural corner of New York, has served for more than a century as a place of reflection and spiritual guidance. Guests do not pass through metal detectors and do not undergo a baggage check. Most people leave the doors of their centuries-old homes unlocked at night. The center is known for its summer lecture series, where Rushdie has spoken in the past. At an evening vigil, a few hundred residents and visitors gathered for prayer, music and a long period of silence. “Hate cannot win,” one man shouted. —— Italie reported from New York. Associated Press reporter Kareem Chehayeb contributed to this report from Beirut.
