Salman Rushdie’s attacker says he acted alone

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The 24-year-old man charged with the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie has denied being in contact with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard Corps and said that he acted alone when he stabbed the Mumbai-born author, whom he disliked for being “disingenuous”.

Hadi Matar, of Fairview in New Jersey, was arrested last week and charged with second-degree attempted murder and assault after he stabbed Rushdie, 75, onstage at an event at the Chautauqua Institution in New York state, reports agencies.

In a video interview to the New York Post from Chautauqua County Jail, Matar said that “When I heard he survived, I was surprised, I guess.”

Rushdie suffered three stab wounds to his neck, four stab wounds to his stomach, puncture wounds to his right eye and chest, and a laceration on his right thigh, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said during the suspect’s arraignment.

Matar did not respond on whether he was inspired by Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who had issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death in 1989 after “The Satanic Verses” was published.

“I respect the Ayatollah. I think he’s a great person. That’s as far as I will say about that,” Matar told The Post.

He noted that he had only “read like two pages” of Rushdie’s controversial novel. “I read a couple of pages. I didn’t read the whole thing cover to cover,” he said.