Salman Rushdie attack suspect read a 'couple pages' of Satanic Verses

The man accused of stabbing the novelist Sir Salman Rushdie in New York has appeared in court in the US - Hadi Matar reportedly said he was "surprised" the author survived. ITV News' Robert Moore reports

Sir Salman Rushdie’s alleged attacker admitted he has only read a “couple pages” of the author’s controversial novel The Satanic Verses.

The Indian-British writer's book led to death threats from Iran in the 1980s, with a bounty places on his head until 1998 after accusations from the country’s supreme leader that the book insults Islam.

Hadi Matar, who is charged with stabbing Sir Salman on a lecture stage in western New York, said he hasn’t read “the whole thing cover to cover” and was surprised to learn the author had survived.

“When I heard he survived, I was surprised, I guess,” the 24-year-old told the New York Post in a prison interview.

“I don’t like the person. I don’t think he’s a very good person,” he added. “He’s someone who attacked Islam. He attacked their beliefs, the belief systems.”

While hardly familiar with Sir Salman's written work, Matar said he watched videos of the author on YouTube.

“I saw a lot of lectures,” he said. “I don’t like people who are disingenuous like that.”

Matar said he considered late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini “a great person”, but wouldn't say if he was following a fatwa, or edict, issued by Iran in 1989 calling for Sir Salman’s death.

Iran has denied involvement in the attack and Matar, who lives in Fairview, New Jersey, said he hadn't had any contact with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard.

Sir Salman, 75, suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, according to his agent, in the attack on Friday.

His agent, Andrew Wylie, said his condition has improved and he is on the road to recovery.

Want a quick and expert briefing on the biggest news stories? Listen to our latest podcasts to find out What You Need To Know

Matar, who is charged with attempted murder and assault, told the Post he took a bus to Buffalo the day before the attack and then took a cab to Chautauqua, about 40 miles (64 kilometres) away.

He bought a pass to the Chautauqua Institution grounds and then slept in the grass the night before Sir Salman’s planned talk.

Matar was born in the US but holds dual citizenship in Lebanon, where his parents were born.

His mother has told reporters in interviews that Matar came back changed from a visit to see his father in Lebanon in 2018.

After that, he became moody and withdrew from his family, she said.

Why was The Satanic Verses so controversial?

The Satanic Verses is a parable of contemporary Britain and India and the conflict of good and evil, represented by two survivors from a jumbo jet blown up at 30,000ft who find themselves changing, one into the Angel Gabriel and the other into the Devil.

It was considered "blasphemous" by some members of the Muslim community as it parodied the Quran's account of the prophecies of Mohammed, the founder of Islam.

Iran's former ruler Ayatollah Khomeini sentenced Sir Salman to death in February 1989 in response to the novel, leaving the author trapped within a net of his written words and with a £1 million-plus bounty on his head.

Under Islamic law, he was found guilty of creating “fasad”, or public disorder in a land under divine sovereignty.

The ayatollah’s justification for his death sentence, or fatwa, was the riots and a dozen deaths in India and Pakistan that followed newspaper condemnation of the book, published in 1988.

The Satanic Verses was banned in 45 Islamic countries.