Suspect In Salman Rushdie Stabbing Had Sympathies With Iran — But News Orgs Say Motive Is Unclear
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Maybe it has something to do with the sympathies with the country that issued the fatwa against Rushdie and is offering a reward for killing him?
Perhaps?
On Friday, 75-year-old Indian-born novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed shortly after he got onstage in Chautauqua, New York, to give a speech on artistic freedom.
Witnesses say that a man approached Rushdie from behind while he was seated in a chair on the stage and appeared to “punch or stab” the author 10-15 times.
The author is now recovering after sustaining multiple injuries and undergoing emergency surgery. His liver was stabbed and damaged, nerves in his arm were severed, and he will most likely lose an eye because of the attack.
Rushdie has been living under a death threat for 33 years, and for several years he was in hiding and using a pseudonym.
In 1989, Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a death fatwa against Rushdie because his novel “The Satanic Verses” was deemed “blasphemous against Islam” by the regime for the irreverent portrayal of the prophet Mohammed.
In 2019, Ayatollah Khamenei reaffirmed the fatwa against Rushdie.
Worth noting that #Iran's supreme leader's office reaffirmed the Khomeini fatwa against Salman Rushdie on Twitter as late as 2019–repeating language Khamenei used in 1990. Twitter later limited Khamenei's handle in response. pic.twitter.com/WXyGeQH6c4
— Jason Brodsky (@JasonMBrodsky) August 12, 2022
ClashDaily reported on the stabbing as the news was breaking here:
SALMAN RUSHDIE: Assassination Attempt At Public Appearance … Was It The FATWA?
The New York Post in their report on Saturday was pretty clear that there is a pretty clear motive. The suspect arrested on Friday is Hadi Matar, a 24-year-old man from Fairfield, New Jersey who “has sympathies toward the Iranian government that has called for Rushdie’s death” law enforcement told the NY Post.
Despite this, both the Associated Press and Reuters are reporting that the motive is yet to be determined.
Police identified the man who attacked author Salman Rushdie as Hadi Matar. He was arrested at the scene and was awaiting arraignment.
State police Major Eugene J. Staniszewski said the motive for the stabbing was unclear.https://t.co/zpbIbfBzWp pic.twitter.com/vpoIkImXk8
— The Associated Press (@AP) August 12, 2022
From the link in the tweet, the Associated Press reports:
Police identified the attacker as Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey. He was arrested at the scene and was awaiting arraignment. Matar was born a decade after “The Satanic Verses” was published. The motive for the attack was unclear, State Police Maj. Eugene Staniszewski said.
UPDATE: Novelist Salman Rushdie is on a ventilator following hours of surgery after being stabbed in the neck and torso at a lecture.
He will likely lose one eye, his book agent said https://t.co/Ijx9U4olpk https://t.co/Ijx9U4olpk
— Reuters (@Reuters) August 12, 2022
“Police said they were working with federal investigators to determine a motive,” says the Reuters article.
While that’s the line that the AP and Reuters are going with, some others think that the reason is pretty clear.
#IRGCTerrorists
The terror attack on Rushdie immediately generates great celebration in the religious and political palaces in Tehran, @FranckenTheo says."When its date and time come, Trump and Bolton would see #SalmanRushdie's same fate," the #IRGC Telegram Channel writes. https://t.co/4aqBmIAHhm
— Iran News Update (@IranNewsUpdate1) August 12, 2022
Independent journalist Andy Ngo has dug through Matar’s social media and found that he seems to be a big fan of the Iranian regime.
Photos & information have emerged about the Muslim extremist suspect accused of repeatedly stabbing author Salman Rushdie (he was accused of blasphemy) in western New York. Suspect Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, NJ, had multiple posts in support of Iran & Shia Islam on Facebook pic.twitter.com/b1cGxm00Qc
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) August 12, 2022
Matar’s social media was filled with what investigators might call “red flags”…
Hadi Matar, the Muslim accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie, had a FB filled w/support of Iran & Shia Islam. In 1988, a fictional novel by Rushdie angered Muslims so badly that Iranian leader Khomeini issued a fatwa for him & anyone associated w/book to die.https://t.co/oBwC2WJ1rF pic.twitter.com/ov1JURpSJv
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) August 12, 2022
Some Muslim are celebrating the stabbing of a novelist for blasphemy.
The chairman of the Nazriati Party in Pakistan praises the jihadist suspect who tried to kill Salman Rushdie. Many Muslims hold on to the traditional teaching that those who blaspheme Islam or its prophet must die. https://t.co/o53v5BfkMT pic.twitter.com/ZCqRCSmck2
— Andy Ngô 🏳️🌈 (@MrAndyNgo) August 13, 2022
Shortly after the attack, someone sent a threat over Twitter to Harry Potter author, J.K. Rowling.
Right after the assault on Salman Rushdie, somebody sent this to JKR: https://t.co/mqihTatZRM
— Anne Brøndum (@goldendayze) August 12, 2022
It’s pretty clear that the media is biased. They’re quick to label any police interaction with a black person racist — even without evidence, but they’re really hesitant to call anything an Islamic extremist attack.
We can all see the bias and that’s why trust in these big media organizations is so low, and why people are looking for their news elsewhere.
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