New York: Author Salman Rushdie was taken off the ventilator last night as he remained hospitalised with serious injuries after being stabbed at a literary event in New York, multiple reports said.
Hadi Matar, the 24-year-old man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie, pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges in what a prosecutor called a “preplanned” crime.
The author was stabbed in the neck and abdomen approximately 10 times, prosecutors said during the arraignment of Hadi Matar in a New York court. A preliminary review of Matar’s social media showed him to be sympathetic to “Shia extremism” and the causes of Iran’s Islamic Revolutionary Guard (IRGC).
