Salman Rushdie stabbing suspect pleads not guilty to attempted murder

Hadi Matar, 24, reiterates his plea of not guilty to charges he faces for allegedly storming the stage at a literary event last week and stabbing the British novelist several times.

Hadi Matar is next scheduled to appear in court on September 7. (AFP)

The suspected assailant of Salman Rushdie has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault charges at a brief court hearing in upstate New York.

Speaking through his lawyer on Thursday, Hadi Matar, 24, reiterated his plea of not guilty to charges he faces for allegedly storming the stage at a literary event last week and stabbing the British novelist several times in the neck and abdomen.

Thursday's appearance at a court in Chautauqua County followed a grand jury indictment, according to county prosecutors.

The judge ordered Matar remain detained without bail. He is next scheduled to appear in court on September 7.

His head bowed, Matar wore a black and white striped prison outfit with orange crocs at the hearing that drew numerous reporters.

Following last Friday's attack, Rushdie was air-lifted to a nearby hospital for emergency surgery.

His condition remains serious but the 75-year-old has shown signs of improvement, and he has been taken off a ventilator.

READ MORE: Controversial author Salman Rushdie off ventilator

[embed]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jJJsgT1osr0[/embed]

Controversial author

Rushdie was about to be interviewed as part of a lecture series at the Chautauqua Institution in New York on Friday when a man rushed the stage and stabbed him repeatedly in the neck and abdomen.

Matar was wrestled to the ground by staff and audience members at the lecture, before police took him into custody.

Police and prosecutors have provided scant information about Matar's background or the possible motivation behind the attack.

Rushdie, who was born in India in 1947, moved to New York two decades ago and became a US citizen in 2016.

He spent years under police protection after Iran's late Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's killing a year after the publication of his novel "The Satanic Verses" in 1988, which negatively portrayed Islam and the Prophet Mohammed.

Iran's government has long since distanced itself from Khomeini’s decree, but anti-Rushdie sentiment lingered. 

Iran this week denied any link with Rushdie's attacker but blamed the writer himself for "insulting" Islam in "The Satanic Verses".

READ MORE: Iran denies involvement in assault on Salman Rushdie

Source: AFP

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Retired Canadian priest pleads not guilty to sexual assault

TRENTON, Canada

A retired priest pleaded not guilty Wednesday in a Canadian court to a sexual assault that allegedly occurred more than 50 years ago at an Indian Residential School.

Arthur Masse, 92, who was not in the courtroom, entered the plea through his lawyer, George Green.

The indecent assault involves a 10-year-old girl who was a student at Fort Alexander residential school in the province of Manitoba. Sexual and indecent assault are the same charge in Canada.

Masse was arrested and charged in June following a 10-year police investigation. The court hearing was held in Powerview, a small community of 1,300 people northeast of Winnipeg, Manitoba.

While authorities did not identify the victim, Victoria McIntosh, 63, of the Sagkeeng First Nation, stepped forward outside the courtroom and told the Canadian Broadcasting Corporation that she was the girl who Masse allegedly sexually assaulted.

She vowed to follow the trial to its conclusion.

"I'll be there every step of the way," McIntosh said. "Mr. Masse, come out and speak your truth as well, and I will speak mine."

Sagkeeng Chief Derrick Henderson suggested at an earlier court hearing that Masse be subjected to a sentencing circle, which is a First Nation justice process based on the premise that a crime is committed against the entire community, not just the victim. But the request was based on Masse pleading guilty.

Masse's next court date is Sept. 14.

The Fort Alexander residential school dates back to 1880, when it was founded and run by the Oblates of Mary Immaculate Catholic order. It was a day school which First Nation and Metis children attended and lived at for 10 months of the year. It closed in 1970.

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Man charged in Jan. 6 assault of officer who died pleads guilty to misdemeanors

A West Virginia man charged in the Jan. 6 assault of Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick pleaded guilty Wednesday to two misdemeanor charges.

George Tanios was arrested two months after the Jan. 6 attack, along with Julian Khater, who investigators identified in videos as having deployed bear spray against three officers outside of the Capitol, including Sicknick.

Sicknick died the day after the riot of natural causes after suffering at least two strokes, according to the Washington, D.C., medical examiner's office.

Tanios pleaded guilty Wednesday to entering and remaining on restricted grounds, and disorderly and disruptive conduct on restricted grounds.

Khater has pleaded not guilty to multiple felony charges stemming from the alleged assault, and is set to go on trial in October.

In an image included in an affidavit, the man in the blue coat and bike helmet has been identified by a source as Capitol Police officer Brian Sicknick, as he reacts to an irritant being sprayed in his face at the Capitol, Jan. 6. 2021.

FBI

Prosecutors said in Wednesday's hearing they have also extended a plea offer to Khater and they continue to negotiate with his counsel, but they warned that the offer will expire by Aug. 17.

Khater could face between 78 and 97 months behind bars as part of his sentence if he were to accept the plea deal of two counts of felony assaults on officers, prosecutors said.

That amount would be more than a year longer than the two harshest sentences given to any Capitol rioters thus far.

George Tanios at his sandwich shop in Morgantown, W.Va.

Andrew Spellman/The Daily Athenaeum via AP

As part of his plea deal with prosecutors, Tanios faces a potential range of 0-6 months behind bars, though he has already served five months in pre-trial detention following his arrest, for which he would receive credit.

In their original affidavit against Khater and Tanios, investigators cited open source videos that they said showed Khater at one point telling Tanios "Give me that bear s---" before reaching into a backpack Tanios was wearing.

Tanios then responded, "Hold on, hold on, not yet, not yet ... it's still early."

"This verbal exchange between Khater and Tanios, together with Khater's retrieval of the spray can from Tanios, reveals that the two were working in concert and had a plan to use the toxic spray against law enforcement," the charging documents said.

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