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Who Attacked Salman Rushdie? Everything You Need To Know About Hadi Matar

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According to experts, the man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie on a stage in western New York on Friday is a 24-year-old male from Fairview, New Jersey. Hours after the designer, an Indian-born man, was assaulted, police identified the suspect as Hadi Matar, 24. Salman Rushdie, 75, was scheduled to speak at a literary competition sponsored by the Chautauqua Institution late in the morning when Hadi Matar allegedly surged in front of a crowd and stabbed him at least twice—once in the neck and once in the abdomen, according to Maj Eugene Staniszewski of the New York state police.

After the stabbing, Hadi Matar was rushed by members of the establishment staff and tackled, according to Maj Eugene Staniszewski. At that point, a state cop and a local deputy sheriff’s office working security on the call entered and took Hadi Matar into custody. The injured author was cared for by a professional who was attending Salman Rushdie’s lecture until a helicopter crew could carry him to a hospital, where he had a medical procedure.

 

Who is Hadi Matar Suspected Attacker of Salman Rushdie?
Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from Fairview, New Jersey, has been identified as the person who stabbed renowned author Salman Rushdie in front of a speech in New York. Within minutes of the incident, the New York State Police had him in custody. After publishing “The Satanic Verses,” Salman Rushdie received several death threats from Islamists. On Friday, while he was being introduced at a Chautauqua Institution event in Western New York, he was stabbed in front of an audience.

The primary suspect in the stabbing attack on author Salman Rushdie is known as Hadi Matar. He is 24 years old and is from Fairview, New Jersey. Hadi Matar allegedly jumped up on stage shortly after Salman Rushdie was introduced 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 initially examined by law enforcement to see if they were sensitive to Shia radicalism and the justifications of the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps (IRGC), a police force with direct knowledge of the investigation said NBC News. Although there are no immediate connections between Hadi Matar and the IRGC, police allegedly found images of the deceased commandant Qassem Solemani and an Iraqi supporter of the Iranian regime on a cellphone messaging app that was also used by Hadi Matar, according to NBC News. Senior Iranian Navy Officer Qassem Soleimani served in the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps from 1998 till his death in 2020.

A report that Hadi Matar was sympathetic to “Shia radicalism” and the justifications for Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps arose after Salman Rushdie was stabbed. After publishing “The Satanic Verses,” for which he had received a fatwa—a religious declaration—from the then-Iranian revolutionary leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini—Salman Rushdie faced Islamist death threats for a considerable amount of time. He was forced to hide out for a significant amount of time by the threat. Since the 1980s, Salman Rushdie has received death threats from Iran, which has offered a USD 3 million (about Rs 24 crore) reward for anyone who kills him.