Salman Rushdie attack: suspect pleads not guilty to attempted murder charge

Suspect from New Jersey is accused by prosecutors of preplanned' attack on author in New York before being remanded without bail

The man suspected of stabbing the novelist Salman Rushdie at a literary festival in western New York pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault at a court appearance on Saturday.

District attorney Jason Schmidt alleged on Saturday that Hadi Matar, 24, took steps to purposely put himself in position to harm Rushdie, getting an advance pass to the event where the author was speaking and arriving a day early bearing a fake ID. This was a targeted, unprovoked, preplanned attack on Mr Rushdie," Schmidt alleged.