Foreign ministry spokesperson says Iran has no further information about author\u2019s alleged attacker
\n New York
\nSalman Rushdie, who was stabbed repeatedly at a public appearance in New York state, and his supporters are to blame for the attack, Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson has said.
\nFreedom of speech did not justify Rushdie\u2019s insults upon religion in his writing, Nasser Kanaani said in a press briefing on Monday.
\nIran had no other information about Rushdie\u2019s alleged assailant except what had appeared in media, he added.
\nOn Monday, a spokesperson for the British prime minister, Boris Johnson, said Iran\u2019s stance was \u201cludicrous\u201d.
\n\u201cClearly it\u2019s ludicrous to suggest that Salman Rushdie was in any way responsible for this abhorrent attack,\u201d they said.
\n\u201cThis was not just an attack on him, it was an attack on the right to free speech and expression. And the UK government stands both by him and his family but equally we will stand in defence of free speech around the world.\u201d
\nVice News reported on Sunday that before his arrest, the suspect, Hadi Matar, allegedly had contact at some point with the Islamic Revolutionary Guards, a branch of Iran\u2019s military, citing European and Middle Eastern intelligence sources. The report also said there was no evidence that Iranian officials were involved in organising the attack on Rushdie.
\nThe prize-winning writer spent years under police protection after Iranian leaders called for his killing over his portrayal of Islam and the prophet Muhammad in his novel The Satanic Verses.
\nHe was about to be interviewed as part of a lecture series on Friday when a man rushed the stage and stabbed him repeatedly.
\nRushdie\u2019s \u201croad to recovery has begun\u201d but \u201cwill be long\u201d, the novelist\u2019s agent said on Sunday.
\n\u201cThe injuries are severe,\u201d the agent, Andrew Wylie, said in an email to the Guardian, alluding to stab wounds the author had suffered to his neck, stomach, eye, chest and thigh two days earlier. \u201cBut his condition is headed in the right direction.\u201d
\nThe Indian-born British novelist remained in hospital on Sunday in a critical condition, but had been removed from a ventilator, which allowed him to talk and demonstrate that \u201chis usual feisty and defiant sense of humour remains intact\u201d, his son Zafar Rushdie said in a separate statement.
\nNonetheless, Zafar added that his father\u2019s wounds were \u201clife-changing\u201d.
\nOn Saturday, Matar pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault at a brief court appearance where he was denied bail.
\nThe US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, said on Sunday that Iranian state institutions had incited violence against Rushdie for generations, and state-affiliated media had gloated about the attempt on his life.
\n\u201cThis is despicable,\u201d Blinken said in a statement. \u201cThe United States and partners will not waver in our determination to stand up to these threats, using every appropriate tool at our disposal.\u201d
\nThe New York governor, Kathy Hochul, spoke at the Chautauqua Institution, where Rushdie was stabbed, condemning the \u201ccowardly attack\u201d and asserting that \u201ca man with a knife cannot silence a man with a pen\u201d.
\nRushdie had lived in hiding and under police protection for years after the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini put out a fatwa in 1989 calling for his death in retribution for The Satanic Verses. Many Muslims interpreted the author\u2019s book as blasphemous because it included a character they found insulting to the prophet Muhammad.
\nRushdie, 75, was at the institution to speak about the importance of the US giving asylum to exiled writers when he was attacked, and had said recently that he believed his life was \u201cvery normal again\u201d.
\nOn Saturday, the district attorney Jason Schmidt alleged that Rushdie\u2019s accused attacker had taken steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID. \u201cThis was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr Rushdie,\u201d Schmidt said.
\nThe public defender Nathaniel Barone complained that authorities had taken too long to get Matar in front of a judge while leaving him \u201chooked up to a bench at the state police barracks\u201d. \u201cHe has that constitutional right of presumed innocence,\u201d Barone said.
\nRushdie was stabbed repeatedly before his alleged attacker was tackled by spectators, institution staff and two local law enforcement officers providing security. A helicopter crew flew Rushdie to a hospital in nearby Erie, Pennsylvania.
\n\u201cWe are so grateful to all the audience members who bravely leapt to his defence and administrated first aid along with the police and doctors who have cared for him,\u201d Zafar Rushdie\u2019s statement added.
\nRushdie had 10 knife injuries: three stab wounds to the right front of his neck, another four to his stomach, one each to his right eye and chest and a cut to his right thigh. He suffered a damaged liver and severed nerves in an arm and an eye, Wylie said on Friday evening, adding that he would probably lose the injured eye.
\nThe attack has been met with shock and outrage from much of the world, along with tributes and praise for Rushdie.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Foreign ministry spokesperson says Iran has no further information about author\u2019s alleged attacker New York Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed repeatedly at a public appearance in New York state, and his supporters are to blame for the attack, Iran\u2019s foreign ministry spokesperson has said. Freedom of speech did not justify Rushdie\u2019s insults upon religion in […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":277464,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[6],"tags":[],"class_list":{"0":"post-277442","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-world"},"yoast_head":"\n