For attempted murder: Alleged Rushdie assassin faces 25 years in prison

A US jury has formally charged 24-year-old Hadi Matar with attempted murder and assault.

For attempted murder: Alleged Rushdie assassin faces 25 years in prison

A US jury has formally charged 24-year-old Hadi Matar with attempted murder and assault. At the hearing, he again pleaded not guilty despite overwhelming evidence. The judge ruled out a release on bail.

A New York state jury has indicted the man accused of stabbing writer Salman Rushdie. Hadi Matar, 24, has been charged with attempted murder and assault, according to Chautauqua County Attorneys.

After the formal indictment, Matar returned his not-guilty plea to a court hearing. At a previous, first court hearing, Matar had his lawyer declare that he was innocent. The judge has now ordered the accused to remain in custody. The judge ruled out a release on bail.

Matar watched the court proceedings with his head bowed. He wore black and white striped prisoner's clothing and spoke little. Matar was arrested shortly after the attack on Rushdie last Friday during a literary event in Chautauqua. He faces up to 25 years in prison if he's only found guilty of attempted murder. The British-Indian author Rushdie was seriously injured by the stab wounds and required emergency surgery. The 75-year-old is now on the mend.

The motives for the attack are still unclear. According to Matar's mother, he became radicalized during a visit to Lebanon. Silvana Fardos, who lives in the US state of New Jersey, was quoted as saying by the British newspaper "Daily Mail" that her son had "changed a lot" through his trip to her country of birth. Matar himself said in an interview with the New York Post published on Wednesday that he had read "a few pages" of Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. "I don't like the person. I don't think he's a very good person," Matar said. Rushdie is someone who "attacked Islam".

In 1989, Iran's then spiritual leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, called for the writer's assassination because of alleged insults to the Prophet Mohammed in "The Satanic Verses". Matar did not say in the interview if he was influenced by the fatwa against Rushdie. According to the fatwa, the writer had lived for years under strict police protection in ever-changing, secret locations. For some time now, however, Rushdie has been leading a relatively normal life and appearing in public.