The accused of stabbing the British author, Salman Rushdie, confirmed, on Wednesday, that he respects the former Iranian Supreme Leader, Ruhollah Khomeini, but he did not confirm whether he carried out his crime because of a fatwa he had issued more than 30 years ago, according to what he said in an interview withNew York Post‘, I moved it Several media.
And the fatwa issued by Khomeini in 1989 to shed Rushdie’s blood because of his novel “The Satanic Verses” continued to haunt many novelists and liberal thinkers, whose writings were also considered an insult to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad.
Hadi Matar, who is accused of stabbing the author at a lecture center in New York State, last Friday, said that he had read “only a few pages” from Rushdie’s novel, noting that a tweet announcing the author’s visit to the Chautauqua Foundation gave him the idea to direct it.
Rushdie, 75, was expected to give a lecture on freedoms, before Matar, 24, took to the stage and stabbed the Indian-born author.
“I respect the ayatollah, I think he is a great person, that’s all I will say about that,” Matar added in a video interview from Chautauqua prison to the New York Post.
Regarding his opinion of Rushdie, Matar said: “I do not like him very much.”
“He is someone who attacked Islam, its beliefs, and its belief system,” he added, noting that he had followed Rushdie’s videos on YouTube.
Matar denied any contact with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards.
Matar said he took a bus to Buffalo the day before the attack, and then drove to Chutokoa in a Lyft rental car.
“I was walking around the area, I didn’t do anything,” he said, adding that he slept on the grass on Thursday night.
The young man, who lives in New Jersey, has pleaded “not guilty” to the charges against him, which include attempted second-degree murder and assault, Archyde.com reported on Saturday.