"The writer is recovering and can talk," said Salman Rushdie's agent, Andrew Wiley, while the attacker pleaded not guilty of the "attempted murder" charge.

And the British newspaper The Guardian quoted Wiley today, Sunday, as confirming the improvement of the health condition of the British writer of Indian origin, noting that the respirator was removed from him, and that he was able to talk.

attempted murder

The perpetrator of the attack on Salman Rushdie (a young American of Lebanese origin) appeared before a judge in New York State, where he pleaded not guilty to the charge of "attempting to kill" the British writer.

Hadi Matar, 24, was wearing a prisoner's suit and wearing a mask in a procedural session in front of the Chautauqua court, where he is being prosecuted for "attempted murder and assault", and he did not say a word, according to the New York Times and photos published by the local press.

The suspect (who resides in New Jersey) pleaded his innocence through his lawyer, and he will appear again in court on August 19.

The writer Salman Rushdie was stabbed last Friday in the neck and abdomen when he was giving a lecture in New York.

The attack occurred when Rushdie was being introduced to a lecture on freedom of creativity in front of hundreds of attendees at the Chautauqua Institute in New York, when the attacker rushed to the stage and stabbed the writer several times.

It is noteworthy that Rushdie disappeared from public view for many years after the late leader of the Iranian revolution, Ayatollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa to kill him, in response to his publication in 1989 of the novel "The Satanic Verses", which includes insults to Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, may God bless him and grant him peace.

Salman Rushdie has been living in hiding since the end of the eighties (Getty Images)

Details from Lebanon

NBC New York reported that a preliminary law enforcement review of Matar's accounts on social media showed that he had "extremist Shiite tendencies" and expressed sympathy with the Iranian Revolutionary Guards, although no specific links were found between them.

The network stated in its report that Matar was born in California and recently moved to New Jersey, adding that security forces found a false driver's license with him.

In Lebanon, Ali Tahfeh, the mayor of Yaron (southern Lebanon), said that the suspect is the son of a man from the town, and added that the suspect's parents immigrated to the United States, where he was born and raised.

Asked whether the suspect or his parents belonged to Hezbollah, Tuhfa said he had absolutely no information about their political views.

An official in the Lebanese Hezbollah said that they did not have any additional information about the stabbing incident, "and therefore we will not issue any comment."

It is noteworthy that Salman Rushdie was born on June 19, 1947 in Bombay, and grew up in a family of wealthy and progressive Muslim intellectuals.