The young Lebanese American who stabbed writer Salman Rushdi Hadi Matar pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and second-degree assault during a hearing in New York and ordered him to be held without bail.

Matar previously said in an interview with The New York Post, speaking of Rushdie, “I don’t think he’s a good person”, explaining, “I don’t like him. their beliefs,” emphasizing, “I haven’t read every book.” “Satanic Verses” from cover to cover.

Matar, in prison, complained that “much of what I was given was forbidden by my religion.”
I respect Khomeini, I think he is a wonderful person and that’s all I can say.” Matar did not respond to questions about his trip to Lebanon in 2018 to visit his father.

Rushdie, 75, was attacked on stage Friday as he was about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institute. Police said he received at least 10 stab wounds and sustained liver damage, cutting nerves in his arm and eye.

Notably, Rushdie’s novel The Satanic Verses, published in 1988, sparked controversy, and some Muslims considered the novel offensive to the Prophet Muhammad. The founder of the Islamic Republic of Iran, Ruhollah Khomeini, sentenced Rushdie to death.