Hadi Matar: Salman Rushdie's accused attacker pleads not guilty

Suspect was charged with second-degree murder and assault for attacking Satanic Verses author

Nathaniel Barone, defence attorney for Hadi Matar, talks with his client. AP

Hadi Matar at the Chautauqua County Sheriff's Department following the attack on Salman Rushdie. AP

Mr Matar, who has been accused of stabbing Rushdie at a literary event, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges. AFP

Mr Matar listens to his public defence attorney, Nathaniel Barone, while being arraigned in the Chautauqua County Courthouse in Mayville, New York. AP

Mr Matar arrives for his arraignment. AP

Mr Matar said that he took a bus to Buffalo, New York, and then a Lyft to the Chautauqua Institution, where Rushdie was speaking. AP

Mr Matar told 'The New York Post' that a tweet announcing the author's visit to the Chautauqua Institution gave him the idea of going there. AP

Mr Matar said that he has only read two pages of 'The Satanic Verses' by author Rushdie, whom he is accused of trying to murder. AP

Mr Matar is accused of stabbing Rushdie and faces attempted murder charges. AP

A plain-clothed police officer stands near the entrance of the building where Mr Matar lives in Fairview, New Jersey. Reuters

Police cordon off an area outside Mr Matar's house. Reuters

A man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie last week during a lecture event in western New York state pleaded not guilty on Thursday to second-degree attempted murder and assault charges.

Hadi Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, was arrested on August 12 after he rushed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution, stabbing Rushdie several times before the Satanic Verses author was due to speak on freedom of expression and protection for writers in exile.

Mr Matar was arraigned during a hearing at a court in Chautauqua County on a grand jury indictment earlier in the day. He was ordered to be held without bail.

His next court appearance was scheduled for September 22.

Rushdie is receiving treatment for severe wounds at a hospital in Pennsylvania. His agent said he has a damaged liver and severed nerves in his arm, and that he could lose an eye.

The author's 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses, was condemned as blasphemous by many Muslims upon its publication. Iran's former supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death a year after it was published.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt called the attack “pre-planned”. Prosecutors alleged Mr Matar travelled to Chautauqua Institution, an education centre and summer resort, where he bought a pass to Rushdie's lecture.

Mr Matar told the New York Post this week that he admires Khomeini, but would not say if his attack on Rushdie was inspired by the fatwa. The Post reported that he had denied being in contact with Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps.

"I don't like him very much," Mr Matar said of Rushdie, as reported in the Post. "He's someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the belief systems."

President Joe Biden and other political leaders condemned the attack as an assault to free speech.

The Iranian government has denied involvement in the attack and US police said it was believed Mr Matar had acted alone.

Henry Reese, cofounder of Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum, was on stage with Rushdie during the event and was struck in the head.

The Associated Press contributed to this report