Hadi Matar Bio – Hadi Matar Wiki
Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, was arrested after he stormed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York and allegedly stabbed the author multiple times, New York State Police said Friday.
AGE:
Hadi Matar is 24 years old.
DETAIL OF INCIDENCE:
A suspect has been named in the stabbing of famed writer Salman Rushdie.
The Satanic Verses author, 75, was attacked Friday as he was being introduced at a literary festival at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, per the Associated Press.
In a release, the New York State Police announced that the attacker has been identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, and is currently in custody.
Major Eugene J. Staniszewski said in a press conference captured by CBS News that Rushdie, a guest speaker at a lecture, and Ralph Henry Reese, 73, had “just arrived on stage” when Matar rushed the stage and stabbed Rushdie “at least once in the neck and at least once in the abdomen.”
Members of the institution’s staff, along with some in the audience, tackled Matar. An onsite trooper and Chautauqua deputy then arrested Matar. A doctor treated Rushdie until EMS got to the scene, police said.
Rushdie was airlifted to a hospital and was in surgery at a local trauma center as of the news conference. Reese has been released from the hospital and is recovering from a facial injury.
Police said a motive isn’t clear at this time; however, police are working with the District Attorney’s office to get a search warrant for a backpack and electronic devices that Matar had with him. Authorities are “assuming he was alone” but are investigating to confirm.
Officials said Matar accessed the building with a pass, just like other attendees in the audience.
A further investigation will determine charges against Matar that could be filed by Friday evening, officials said, noting that there is a police presence with Rushdie at the hospital.
The author, born in Mumbai and moved to England permanently after attending school at Cambridge, was the subject of a fatwā, or religious ruling, from Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 after his novel The Satanic Verses was released. Many Muslims were outraged by the writing, and demonstrations were held worldwide.
Because of threats against his life and million-dollar bounties on his head, Rushdie went into hiding for almost a decade.
Rushdie was married at the time to author Marianne Wiggins; they divorced shortly after. Rushdie has been married three times; first to Clarissa Luard, third to Elizabeth West, and most recently to the author and chef Padma Lakshmi from 2004 to 2007.
Rushdie is the former president of PEN America. In a statement after the attack, CEO Suzanne Nossel said, “PEN America is reeling from shock and horror at the word of a brutal, premeditated attack on our former President and stalwart ally, Salman Rushdie.”
“We can think of no comparable incident of a public attack on a literary writer on American soil,” the statement continued.
The statement ended by offering well-wishes to Rushdie: “Our thoughts and passions now lie with our dauntless Salman, wishing him a full and speedy recovery. We hope and believe fervently that his essential voice cannot and will not be silenced.”
The investigation remains ongoing.
LATEST UPDATE:
Salman Rushdie has been placed on a ventilator and cannot speak, his literary agent Andrew Wylie told The New York Times in an update on his condition after he was attacked and stabbed on stage Friday during a literary festival in New York’s Chautauqua Institution.
“The news is not good,” said Wiley. “Salman will likely lose one eye, the nerves in his arm were severed, and his liver was stabbed and damaged.”
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