Salman Rushdie’s attacker has been shockingly praised by Iran’s state media.
Rushdie, 75, was stabbed multiple times, including in the neck and abdomen during a speech in New York. The suspect in the attack who was taken into custody has been identified as Hadi Matar, 24, from Fairview, New Jersey, according to New York State Police.
Rushdie was stabbed in the eye, and is likely to be permanently maimed by the vicious attack.
SHOCK VIDEO SHOWS MOMENT RUSHDIE ATTACKER WAS TACKLED BY AUDIENCE MEMBERS
AUTHOR SALMAN RUSHDIE LIKELY TO LOSE EYE, ON VENTILATOR AND UNABLE TO SPEAK AFTER STABBING ATTACK
However, the brutal incident has been met with near-overwhelming praise in Iran. The Iranian state-owned FARS News called Rushdie an “apostate” who has “insulted the Prophet of Islam”.
An ultra-conservative newspaper in Iran, whose chief Hossein Shariatmadari is a close confidant of current Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, went a step further and showered the alleged attacker with praise.
In an editorial in Saturday’s edition, Shariatmadari wrote, according to the Daily Mail: ‘Bravo to this courageous and duty-conscious man who attacked the apostate and depraved Salman Rushdie in New York. Let us kiss the hands of the one who tore the neck of the enemy of God with a knife.’
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It comes after video shows dozens of audience members gasping and rushing the stage after Rushdie was attacked. Several other audience members surrounded the author to begin treating him as several others watched from afar.
The newly released video was shared by an attendee of the CHQ 2022 event that was held in Chautauqua, New York, on Friday. The attendee said he began filming the video just seconds after the attack began.
Rushdie drew controversy in the late 1980s upon the publication of The Satanic Verses, a book that many Muslims believed to be blasphemous. He received many death threats, particularly after Iran issued a fatwa that asked all Muslims to kill him. A bounty as high as $6 million was also placed on his life, according to the Index on Censorship.
