The man suspected of attacking author Salman Rushdie has been charged with attempted second-degree murder, New York authorities said on Saturday. The attacker, identified as 24-year-old Hadi Matar from New Jersey, is also facing a charge of second-degree assault.
Rushdie was allegedly stabbed at a literary festival in New York on Friday. He is still on a ventilator and is expected to lose an eye as a result of the attack. The Iranian-born author has been a controversial figure in the Islamic world, with officials in his home country calling for his execution since the late 1980s.