Salman Rushdie’s assailant, a young Lebanese-American, was brought before a New York state judge where he pleaded not guilty to the “attempted murder” of the writer, who remains hospitalized in critical condition but was able to speak a few words Saturday night. , reports AFP.

He remains in critical condition in hospital but was able to say a few words on Saturday night.

A year after the publication of The Satanic Verses in 1989, Salman Rushdie, who received death threats after an Iranian fatwa, was stabbed ten times on Friday. The attack shocked the West but was welcomed by extremists in Iran and Pakistan.

Hadi Matar did not say a word in court

At a court hearing in Chautauqua, 24-year-old Hadi Matar, charged with “attempted murder and assault,” appeared in a black-and-white striped prison suit, handcuffed and masked, and did not say a word, New York reports. Times and photos from local media.

Prosecutors said Friday’s attack on a cultural center in Chautauqua, where Rushdie was scheduled to give a lecture, was premeditated.

The 75-year-old intellectual was stabbed at least 10 times in the neck and stomach.

The suspect, who lives in New Jersey, has pleaded “not guilty” through his lawyer and will appear in court again on August 19.

On Saturday night, Salman Rushdie spoke again

On Saturday, the authorities and those close to Salman Rushdie remained silent about the state of health of the British naturalized American.

He was hospitalized on Friday in Erie, Pennsylvania, on the lake that separates the United States from Canada.

However, his agent, Andrew Wylie, who teased Friday night, “Salman will probably lose an eye, the nerves in his hand are severed, and he’s been stabbed in the liver,” told the NYT only that his client had begun speaking again in Saturday night without specifying whether he remained connected to the devices.

The attack caused shock, especially in the West: US President Joe Biden condemned the “brutal attack” and paid tribute to Rushdie for “his refusal to be intimidated and forced into silence”.

The writer thought he was living a normal life

After living in New York for 20 years, Salman Rushdie returned to a more or less normal life, continuing to promote satire and irreverence in his books.

Coincidentally, a few days ago, before the attack, the German magazine Stern interviewed him: “Since I live in the United States, I no longer have problems (…) My life is normal again,” the writer assured. interview, saying he was “optimistic” despite “daily death threats.”

The Iranian “fatwa” was never overturned, and many of its translators were injured in attacks or even killed, such as Japanese Hitoshi Igarashi, who was fatally stabbed in 1991.

In the US, giant Amazon reported a surge in orders for The Satanic Verses, while New York’s Strand Bookstore told AFP that “people have been coming in to see what he’s written and to see what we have” in stock.

In southern Lebanon, Ali Kassem Tahfa, head of the village of Yaroun, told AFP that Hadi Matar was “of Lebanese origin”.

The young man was “born and raised in the United States. His mother and father are from Yarun,” he said, without commenting on the attack.

Iran and Pakistan rejoice: “He deserves to be killed”

But in Iran, the ultra-conservative daily Kayhan congratulated the attacker: “Well done to this brave and conscientious man who attacked the apostate and evil Salman Rushdie,” the newspaper wrote.

“We kiss the hand of the one who tore open the throat of the enemy of God with a knife,” the publication adds.

And at Tehran’s book market, Mehrab Bigdeli, a Shiite cleric, said he was “very happy to hear this news. Whoever the author is, I kiss his hand (…) God curse Salman Rushdie.”

In neighboring Pakistan, the Tehreek-e-Labbaik Pakistan party, known for its fight against what it calls anti-Muslim blasphemy, also said Rushdie “deserved to be killed.”

Salman Rushdie, born in India in 1947 to a family of non-practicing Muslim intellectuals, inflamed parts of the Islamic world with the publication of The Satanic Verses, prompting Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a fatwa calling for his assassination.

The author of about 15 novels, children’s stories, short stories and essays written in English, he was forced to live underground and under police protection, moving from one hiding place to another.