The man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie in New York last week, said he had only read “a couple of pages” of the controversial book Satanic Verses, by the attacked author. He praised Iran's Ayatollah Khomeini in an exclusive interview with the newspaper New York Post 🇧🇷 this Wednesday (17) – and admitted that he did not think the perpetrator would survive the attack.
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“When I heard he survived, I was surprised, I guess,” Matar said, in a video interview from the New Jersey state jail.
“I read a few pages. I didn’t read the whole thing cover to cover,” Matar said.
The alleged attacker, who pleaded not guilty to attempted murder charges, did not say whether he was inspired by the 1989 religious decree, or fatwa, issued by former Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which ordered Muslims to kill the writer for what considered the blasphemous nature of his book “Satanic Verses”.
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“I respect the ayatollah. I think he is a great person. That’s all I’ll say about it,” said Matar, who, according to New York Post, his lawyer advised him not to talk about the topic.
(with AFP)
