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The man accused of attacking Salman Rushdie has been charged with second-degree assault and attempted second-degree murder, reports said Saturday.
Hadi Matar, 24, is being held at Chautauqua County Jail in upstate New York after being transferred from the New York State Police barracks in Jamestown following Friday’s attack.
Mattar pleaded not guilty to attempted second-degree murder in a New York court on Saturday afternoon.
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He has been remanded without bail.
County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said state and federal officials in New York and New Jersey are still investigating whether Mattar may have been planning or preparing for the attack.
Rushdie, who was stabbed in the neck, was last reported as unable to speak and on a respirator.
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“The news is not good,” Rushdie’s agent Andrew Wiley said on Friday.
Rushdie was reportedly stabbed several times before police subdued the attacker.
Matar was detained by state troopers after he allegedly ran onto the stage and stabbed an author during an event at the Chautauqua Institute.
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Rushdie has been threatened with attacks for decades following his 1989 book The Satanic Verses. The book examines Islam through a critical lens and reportedly brought him the death call ordered by a fatwa from his Ruhollah Khomeini, Iran’s previous and first supreme leader. .
Iran also offers over $3 million in rewards to those who kill Rushdie.
Fox News’ Adam Sabes and Andrew Mark Miller contributed to this report.