Experts say the man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie at a scene in western New York on Friday is a 24-year-old from Fairview, New Jersey. Hours after the designer, an Indian-born man, was assaulted, police identified the suspect as 24-year-old Hadi Matar. Salman Rushdie, 75, was due to speak at a literary competition sponsored by the Chautauqua Institution late morning when Hadi Matar allegedly appeared in front of a crowd and stabbed him at least twice – once in the neck and once in the abdomen, according to New York State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski.
After the stabbing, Hadi Matar was rushed by facility staff and tackled, according to Major Eugene Staniszewski. At that point, a state trooper and local deputy sheriff’s office working security on the call entered and arrested Hadi Matar. The injured author was treated by a professional attending Salman Rushdie’s lecture until a helicopter crew was able to transport him to hospital, where he underwent medical intervention.
Who is Hadi Matar, Salman Rushdie’s alleged attacker?
Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from Fairview, New Jersey, has been identified as the person who stabbed famed author Salman Rushdie outside a speech in New York. Minutes after the incident, New York State Police took him into custody. After publishing “The Satanic Verses”, Salman Rushdie received several death threats from Islamists. While being featured at a Chautauqua Institution event in western New York on Friday, he was stabbed in front of an audience.
The prime suspect in the stabbing attack on author Salman Rushdie is known as Hadi Matar. He is 24 years old and hails from Fairview, New Jersey. Hadi Matar allegedly jumped on stage shortly after Salman Rushdie’s presentation and “stabbed him at least once in the neck and at least once in the stomach”, according to the police.
Hadi Matar’s social media profiles were first scrutinized by law enforcement to see if they were susceptible to Shia radicalism and justifications from the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a security force. police with direct knowledge of the investigation, NBC News said. Although there are no immediate links between Hadi Matar and the IRGC, police reportedly found images of deceased commander Qassem Solemani and an Iraqi supporter of the Iranian regime on a mobile phone messaging app also used by Hadi Matar, according to NBC News. Senior Iranian Navy officer Qassem Soleimani served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from 1998 until his death in 2020.
A report that Hadi Matar favored “Shia radicalism” and justifications from Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps emerged after Salman Rushdie was stabbed. After publishing ‘The Satanic Verses’, for which he received a fatwa – a religious statement – from then-Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, Salman Rushdie faced Islamist death threats for a time. considerable. He was forced into hiding for a considerable time by threat. Since the 1980s Salman Rushdie has received death threats from Iran, which has offered a $3 million (about Rs 24 crore) reward for anyone who kills him.