Rushdie Attack Suspect Says He Admires Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini

Rushdie Attack Suspect Says He Admires Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini
Hadi Matar appears in booking phots at Chautauqua County Jail in Mayville, N.Y., on Aug. 12, 2022. Chautauqua County Jail/Handout via Reuters
Reuters
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The man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie said he respected Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini but would not say if he was inspired by a fatwa issued by the former Iranian leader, according to a New York Post interview published on Wednesday.

Hadi Matar also told the Post he had only “read a couple pages” of Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses” and that a tweet in the winter announcing the author’s visit to the Chautauqua Institution gave him the idea of going there.