NJ Man, Hadi Matar, With Sympathies Toward Iranian Government ID’d as Suspect in Salman Rushdie Stabbing

The man arrested in Friday’s stabbing of famed novelist Salman Rushdie was identified by police as a New Jersey man, who law enforcement sources tell The Post he had sympathies toward the Iranian government that has called for Rushdie’s death.

Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, New Jersey, was arrested after he stormed the stage at the Chautauqua Institution in Western New York and allegedly stabbed the author multiple times, New York State Police said Friday.

Rushdie suffered stab wounds to the neck and abdomen, and remained in surgery at a nearby trauma center Friday evening {snip}

Law enforcement sources told The Post that an initial investigation suggests Matar has made social media posts in support of Iran and its Revolutionary Guard, and in support of Shi’a extremism more broadly.

New York State Police, however, said that Matar’s motive remained unclear.

{snip}

The attack comes amid a slew of foiled Iranian plots on American soil, including a plot against former National Security Advisor John Bolton and an apparent attempt on the life of an Iranian-American journalist in Brooklyn.

Rushdie, 75, has been the subject of death threats from the Iranian regime since the late 1980s.

{snip}