Monday August 15, 2022
The father of a man charged with attempting to murder novelist
Salman Rushdie has locked himself in at his home in southern Lebanon and is
refusing to speak to anyone, town mayor Ali Tehfe said on Sunday.
The suspect in Friday's attack in New York state has been
identified by police as 24-year-old Hadi Matar from New Jersey. He has pleaded
not guilty. Matar is originally Lebanese and his family comes from the south
Lebanon town of Yaroun. read more
Tehfe said the parents emigrated to the United States and
Matar was born and raised there, but his father returned to Lebanon several
years ago.
"His father is in the country now but he has locked
himself in and is not accepting to give any kind of statement to anyone. We
tried with him, we sent people, we went and knocked the door but he is not
agreeing to speak to anyone," Tehfe told Reuters.
An official from the Iran-backed Lebanese armed group
Hezbollah said on Saturday the group had no additional information on the
attack on Rushdie.
"We don't know anything about this subject so we will
not comment," the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of
anonymity.
Hezbollah is backed by Iran, whose previous supreme leader,
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1989 pronounced a fatwa, or religious edict,
calling upon Muslims to kill Rushdie for blasphemy.
When asked if Matar or his parents were affiliated with or
supported Hezbollah, Tehfe said he had "no information at all" on the
political views of the parents or Matar.
Indian-born Rushdie, 75, was off a ventilator and his
condition was improving, his agent and a son said on Sunday.
Reporting by Timour Azhari; Editing by Nick Macfie