Who Is Hadi Matar, Suspect Identified In The Stabbing Of Salman Rushdie?

New York police have identified the suspect in the attack on Salman Rushdie. The suspect has been identified as Hadi Matar, a 24-year old from New Jersey.

Though officials are unclear on how Matar had access to the event where the author was speaking, they do believe that he was acting alone.

Matar, 24, was arrested after he stormed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York and allegedly stabbed the author in the neck.

Sources told The Post that initial investigations suggest that Hadi is sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard.

Authorities are currently working to determine charges against Matar, police said in a press conference on Friday afternoon.

Salman Rushdie suffered years of Islamist death threats after writing his controversial book The Satanic Verses, and was attacked on stage in New York state.

The Satanic Verses, his fourth book, in 1988 forced him into hiding for nine years.

This is because the book sparked outrage among some Muslims, who considered its content to be blasphemous.

A year after the book’s release, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for Mr Rushdie’s execution.

He offered a $3m (£2.5m) reward in a fatwa – a legal decree issued by an Islamic religious leader.

The bounty over Mr Rushdie’s head remains active, and although Iran’s government has distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, a quasi-official Iranian religious foundation added a further $500,000 to the reward in 2012.

On Friday, August 12, 2022, Rushdie was speaking at an event at the Chautauqua Institution, New York when he was attacked by the suspect.

Rushdie is still undergoing surgery for his injuries.