Salman Rushdie attack suspect Hadi Matar ‘changed’ by Lebanon visit, mother says
- Madi Matar became fixated on religion after visit to see estranged father, mother says
- Matar was born in the US and grew up in California, later moving to New Jersey
The accused attacker of British author Salman Rushdie was transformed by a trip to Lebanon in 2018, when he became more religious and less outgoing, his mother has said.
Lebanese-born Silvana Fardos, of Fairview, New Jersey, described her 24-year-old son Hadi Matar as “a moody introvert” increasingly fixated with Islam after the visit to see his estranged father.
“One time he argued with me asking why I encouraged him to get an education instead of focusing on religion,” she told the website of Britain’s Daily Mail newspaper.
“He was angry that I did not introduce him to Islam from a young age,” she said in an interview published online late on Sunday.
Matar was arrested at the scene of the attack on Rushdie, 75, at a literary event in upstate New York on Friday.
He pleaded not guilty the following day to attempted murder and assault with a weapon charges and is being held without bail.