In an interview in the New York Post conducted by video link from the Chautauqua county jail, Hadi Matar said he respected Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini but would not say if he was inspired by a fatwa issued by the former Iranian leader.
Rushdie, 75, was set to deliver a lecture on artistic freedom at the western New York venue on Friday when police say 24-year-old Matar rushed onto the stage and stabbed the Indian-born writer.
Rushdie has lived with a bounty on his head since publication of The Satanic Verses in 1988 prompted Khomeini to issue a fatwa the following year urging Muslims to kill him.
“I respect the ayatollah. I think he’s a great person. That’s as far as I will say about that,” the Post quoted Matar as saying.
“I don’t like him very much,” Matar said of Rushdie. “He’s someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the belief systems,” he told the Post, adding that he had watched YouTube videos of Rushdie.
Matar denied being in contact with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard, the Post reported.
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 18, 2022 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك ? تسجيل الدخول
هذه القصة مأخوذة من طبعة August 18, 2022 من The Guardian.
ابدأ النسخة التجريبية المجانية من Magzter GOLD لمدة 7 أيام للوصول إلى آلاف القصص المتميزة المنسقة وأكثر من 9,000 مجلة وصحيفة.
بالفعل مشترك? تسجيل الدخول
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