Salman Rushdie’s suspected stabber denied bail

The man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie before a presentation last week was denied bail on Thursday.

Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old from Fairview, N.J., has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges in the savage stabbing on stage Friday at the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua, N.Y., where Rushdie was preparing to be interviewed.

In seeking bail, his defense attorney, public defender Nathaniel Barone, argued that Matar is not a flight risk. Judge David Foley rejected the bail bid.

The judge also told the lawyers in the case not to give interviews.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt highlighted the brutality of the attack.

“He doesn’t care about his own freedom, judge, and is so driven by his motives that his mission to kill Mr. Rushdie is greater in his mind and outweighs his own personal freedom,” Schmidt said of Matar, who wore a black-and-white jail outfit and a white mask and didn’t speak in court.

Rushdie was waiting to be interviewed when Matar allegedly jumped on stage and stabbed him 10 times in the neck and abdomen.

Salman Rushdie
Salman Rushdie


Salman Rushdie (Evan Agostini/)

The 75-year-old author, known best for his 1988 book “The Satanic Verses,” was airlifted to a hospital in Erie, Pa., and suffered damage to his liver and nerves in an arm and is expected to lose an eye, according to his agent.

Rushdie is off a ventilator, able to speak and on “the road to recovery.”

“It will be long; the injuries are severe, but his condition is headed in the right direction,” his agent, Andrew Wylie, previously told the Daily News.

Wylie did not return a request for an update on his condition Thursday.

Hadi Matar
Hadi Matar


Hadi Matar

Matar was arrested at the scene Friday and pleaded not guilty to attempted-murder and assault charges Saturday. He is being held without bail.

Matar arranged an advance pass to get into the audience at the Chautauqua Institution and used a fake ID, District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Saturday, calling it “a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack.”

Investigators have not yet released a motive for the stabbing, but Iran denounced blame Monday, despite a $3 million bounty on Rushdie’s head for the allegedly blasphemous portrayal of Islam and the Prophet Muhammad in “The Satanic Verses.”

In the week since the attack, sales of “The Satanic Verses” have risen, hitting No. 8 on Amazon’s most-sold fiction books of the week as of Thursday.

Matar is due back on court on Sept. 22. If convicted of second-degree attempted murder, he faces up to 25 years in prison.

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