The suspect in the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie last week in western New York has been jailed without bail and has entered a not guilty plea to charges of second-degree attempted murder and assault.
Prior to Rushdie, 75, giving a speech on stage at an educational retreat close to Lake Erie, Hadi Matar, 24, is accused of stabbing him. Rushdie was hospitalised after suffering serious injuries in what critics and leaders from all over the globe condemned as an assault on the right to free speech.
Earlier in the day, a grand jury returned an indictment charging Matar with one crime of second-degree attempted murder, which carries a maximum term of 25 years in prison, and one count of second-degree assault. Matar was arraigned at the Chautauqua County Courthouse on these charges.
