SALMAN Rushdie has been taken off of a ventilator and is speaking a day after he was stabbed 15 times.
Rushdie remains hospitalized after suffering serious injuries, including damage to his liver, and severed nerves in an arm and an eye.
Aatish Taseer, a fellow author, tweeted on Saturday that Rushdie was “off the ventilator and talking (and joking).” Rushdie’s agent confirmed the news.
Earlier on Saturday, Rushdie’s accused attacker pleaded not guilty after allegedly stabbing the author 15 times.
Hadi Matar, 24, was accused of attempted murder and assault after inflicting the horrific attack while Rushdie was on stage preparing to deliver a lecture on Friday.
Police had identified the suspect as Matar, who was arrested after the attack at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center.
An attorney for Matar today entered the not-guilty plea on his behalf during an arraignment hearing in New York.
Matar appeared in court wearing a black and white jumpsuit and a white face mask. His hands were cuffed in front of him.
He was arraigned on the charges last night and remanded without bail, said the Chautauqua Co. DA’s office. New York state police said on Saturday that Matar of Fairview, New Jersey, was being detained at Chautauqua County Jail.
The bloody attack upon the author was met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for the award-winning author who for more than 30 years has faced death threats for his novel The Satanic Verses.
Investigators have been working to determine whether the alleged assailant, born a decade after The Satanic Verses was published, acted alone.
US law enforcement last night revealed an initial investigation suggested Matar is sympathetic to the Iranian regime and the Islamic Revolutionary Guard, the New York Post reported.
He was born in the US to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, said its mayor, Ali Tehfe.
A state trooper and a county sheriff’s deputy had been assigned to Rushdie’s lecture, and police confirmed the trooper nabbed the man.
But after the attack, some longtime visitors to the center questioned why there wasn’t tighter security for the event, given the bounty on his head offering more than $3 million to anyone who killed him.
More to follow…For the latest news on this story, keep checking back at Sun Online.
The-sun.com is your go-to destination for the best celebrity news, sports news, real-life stories, jaw-dropping pictures and must-see video.
Like us on Facebook at www.facebook.com/TheSunUS and follow us from our main Twitter account at @TheUSSun.
