Feds probe whether Salman Rushdie’s accused NY stabber had Hezbollah terror ties: report

Published

8 months ago

September 1, 2023

admin

Federal prosecutors are investigating whether the Islamic fanatic accused of repeatedly knifing Salman Rushdie onstage last year had ties to any foreign governments or terrorist groups, according to a report.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt, who is overseeing the New York state case against 25-year-old Hadi Matar, told Semafor that the US Attorney’s Office has launched a separate probe into the suspect’s potential links to international organizations.

Matar, the son of Lebanese immigrants living in New Jersey, has pleaded not guilty to charges of assault and attempted murder in the frenzied attack on the celebrated British American author at a literary festival in upstate New York last August.

Rushdie, 75, who was the target of an infamous Islamic death edict in 1989 over his book “The Satanic Verses,” was left blinded in his right eye.

Schmidt said his office is wrapping up its preparations for Matar’s trial, which could start as early as next year. Hadi Matar, 25, who is accused of nearly killing celebrated author Salman Rushdie, is reportedly being probed by the Department of Justice over his potential ties to a foreign government or a terrorist group. Dan Cappellazzo

But the Department of Justice’s concern, which Schmidt said was outside his jurisdiction and above his “pay grade,” is whether Matar, who was known to have spent time in Lebanon, may have been radicalized or trained by the Islamist militant group Hezbollah.

At the time of his arrest on Aug. 12, 2022, Matar was found to be carrying a fake driver’s license bearing the name of a top Hezbollah commander.

There are some areas that we have to sort of confine ourselves to the four corners of the charges that we’ve asserted, which is essentially an ‘attempted murder in the second degree’ charge. That’s our top count, Schmidt told the outlet. That gets us away from some of the underlying motivations that went into the intent. Some of that have been sort of removed from us in our jurisdiction, and that’s something that the US Attorney’s Office has been looking at and they are dealing with. Rushdie, 75, lost sight in his right eye after being repeatedly stabbed at a literary festival in upstate New York last August. PA Images via Getty Images

The DOJ did not immediately respond to a Post request for comment Friday.

A main question from the attack has been whether Matar was a lone wolf or acted on behalf of Hezbollah or the Iranian regime.

Matar’s mother, Silvana Fardos, has told the New York Times that her son traveled to Lebanon in 2018 and likely stayed with his father in the town of Yaroun, which is known to be controlled by Hezbollah. Pro-Iranian Hezbollah fundamentalists burn an effigy of Rushdie on Feb. 26, 1989, accusing him of blasphemy for his book “The Satanic Verses.”AFP via Getty Images

Matar returned from that trip a Shiite zealot devoted to Iran’s Islamic revolution, according to his mom, who publicly disowned him in the wake of the attack on Rushdie.

The famous victim — and Indian-born Booker Prize winner — spent years in hiding with police protection after Irans Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for his death over the alleged blasphemy of the novel The Satanic Verses.

Nearly a decade later, the Iranian government distanced itself from the order, saying it would not back any effort to kill Rushdie — but the fatwa was never officially revoked.

In an exclusive jailhouse interview with The Post just days after his arrest, Matar praised the late Khomeini as a “great person” but would not say whether he was inspired by his fatwa against Rushdie.

The suspect denied being in contact with Iran’s Revolutionary Guard and indicated that he was acting alone when he decided to drive up to Chautauqua after coming across a tweet about Rushdies upcoming visit.

I dont like the person. I dont think hes a very good person, he said about the Midnights Children writer. I dont like him. I dont like him very much. Hes someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the belief systems.

Tehran denied any role in the near-fatal attack on Rushdie last year but said, “Regarding the attack against Salman Rushdie in America, we don’t consider anyone deserving reproach, blame or even condemnation, except for [Rushdie] himself and his supporters.”

Rushdie, who also suffered nerve damage to his hand, has not blamed any foreign entities for the stabbing that nearly ended his life.

Asked about Matar’s upcoming trial, Rushdie told BBC News in July that he is not sure if he can “be bothered” to face him in court.

UK

More human remains found in two locations as part of Salford torso inquiry

Published

4 hours ago

April 28, 2024

admin

More human remains found in two locations as part of Salford torso inquiry

More human remains have been found in two locations as part of an investigation that started when a man’s torso was discovered in Salford.

Police believe the torso belongs to a man in his 60s and have informed his family about his death, but have not yet identified him publicly.

In a news conference today, officers revealed the victim is believed to have known two men who are currently in custody. They are believed to have lived together.

Detective Superintendent Lewis Hughes said they were looking at four crime scenes in Salford and the Greater Manchester area.

The human remains discovered over the last two days were found at Salford’s Blackleach Reservoir and Linnyshaw Colliery Wood.

Officers had already identified the two scenes before the remains were found and were “on route to the Colliery Wood” when a member of the public called to say they had found a package, said Det Supt Hughes.

Police officers found the other remains at the reservoir today while searching the area.

“We are very confident it is the same victim,” Det Supt Hughes added.

The victim is believed to have died in late March.

Police are searching a warehouse in Bury where “items were stored after this incident without the knowledge of occupants of that warehouse,” said Det Supt Hughes.

They’re also searching a house in Winton where the victim “was believed to have lived with the two men in custody”.

The first remains – consisting of the bottom of the back, buttocks and thigh – were found in clear plastic by a passer-by at Kersal Dale Wetlands in Salford, Greater Manchester, on 4 April.

Two men, aged 42 and 68, from Salford, who are believed to be known to each other, were arrested on suspicion of murder on 25 April, GMP said, after officers trawled through hundreds of hours of CCTV footage.

The 42-year-old was arrested after officers stormed a bus in Eccles Old Road around midday, the force said.

The other man was later arrested at an address in Worsley Road.

A 20-year-old man previously arrested on suspicion of murder was later released on bail pending further inquiries.

“It is too soon to rule out [looking for other suspects] but we’re confident at this time that we have the right two suspects in custody,” said Det Supt Hughes.

Detectives are still appealing the public for any information related to the crime and want to hear from witnesses, including dog walkers, who were in the area between 6am and 6pm on the day a passer-by made the original grim discovery.

More than 100 officers searched the Kersal Dale area for 12 days looking for evidence, working with an underwater search team and dogs before lifting the crime scene on 17 April.

UK

Small boat migrant arrivals by late April at highest level ever

Published

5 hours ago

April 28, 2024

admin

Small boat migrant arrivals by late April at highest level ever

The number of migrants that have crossed the Channel in small boats during the first four months of the year is at its highest ever level.

Some 7,167 people have arrived on UK shores after travelling by small boat from the continent between 1 January to 27 April, with 902 entering just this past week

This compares to 5,745 for the same period last year. The previous record was 6,691 in 2022.

Politics latest: Key voter on Humza Yousaf’s future will make proposals to ‘help him out of a tight corner’

The figures come after Rishi Sunak has staked much of his political future on getting the number of migrant boat crossings down.

On Sky’s Sunday Morning With Trevor Phillips programme he said migrants travelling to Ireland after arriving in the UK on small boats was a sign the Rwanda scheme was already working as a deterrent.

“People are worried about coming here and that demonstrates exactly what I’m saying,” he told Sky News.

“If people come to our country illegally, but know that they won’t be able to stay there, they are much less likely to come, and that’s why the Rwanda scheme is so important.”

However, the news that migrants are crossing from Northern Ireland into the Republic has sparked an outcry in the country, and prompted the government in Dublin to announce they are planning emergency legislation to send asylum seekers back to Britain.

More than 80% of recent arrivals in the republic came via the land border with Northern Ireland, Irish justice minister Helen McEntee told a parliamentary committee last week.

Stopping the boats was one of the government’s five priorities set out by the prime minister after he took office in 2023.

The latest figures have been seized upon by Labour, with shadow immigration minister Stephen Kinnock saying: “This is the blunt reality behind all of Rishi Sunak’s empty boasts: more people have arrived by small boats so far this year than ever before and more people are having to be rescued.

“What will it take for Rishi Sunak to wake up and realise that his plan is not working?

“We desperately need a Labour government in place to get a grip of this issue.

“Our plan would strengthen Britain’s border security, crush the smuggling gangs, clear the asylum backlog, end hotel use, and set up a new returns and enforcement unit so those with no right to be in the UK are swiftly returned.”

Earlier this week, the prime minister said the government would “begin the process of removing those identified for the first flight” to Rwanda.

Mr Sunak said that they had increased detention spaces to 2,200 and had 200 caseworkers “ready and waiting” to process asylum claims.

He added that 25 courtrooms and 150 judges had been provided to deal with any legal cases quickly.

Technology

How working for Big Tech lost ‘dream job’ status

Published

5 hours ago

April 28, 2024

admin

Despite blockbuster earnings from giants such as Alphabet and Microsoft, layoffs continue to ripple through the tech industry.

Layoffs.fyi, a platform monitoring job cuts in the tech sector, recorded more than 263,000 job losses in 2023 alone. As of April, there have been more than 75,000 job losses in the industry so far in 2024.

“So instead of rewarding the growth that we saw [tech companies] all pursue years ago, they’re now rewarding profit,” said Jeff Shulman, professor at the University of Washington’s Foster School of Business. “And so the layoffs have continued. People have become used to them. Regrettably and sadly, it seems that the layoffs are going to be the new normal.”

Even though mass tech layoffs continue, the labor market still seems strong. The U.S. economy added 303,000 jobs in March, well above the Dow Jones estimate for a rise of 200,000, with the unemployment rate edged lower to 3.8%.

According to Handshake, a popular free job posting site for college students and graduates, the tech layoffs have prompted new workers to seek other opportunities. The share of job applications from tech majors submitted to internet and software companies dropped by more than 30% between November 2021 and September 2023.

“Part of the reason why this is happening is because stability is such a major factor in students’ decisions around what types of jobs they apply to and what types of jobs they accept,” said Christine Cruzverga, chief education strategy officer at Handshake. “They’re looking at the headlines in the news and they’re paying attention to all of the layoffs that are happening in Big Tech, and that makes them feel unstable.”

Mass layoffs have eroded the shine of the tech industry, which is why workers are questioning whether getting a job in the tech industry should still be regarded as a “dream job.”

“For the people who are chasing … a tech dream job, I think keep your options open and be realistic,” said Eric Tolotti, senior partner engineer at Snowflake, who got laid off from Microsoft in 2023. “Don’t just focus on one company and feel like you have to get into that one company because it’s the dream.”

Watch the video to learn about tech workers’ sentiments, considerations for aspiring Big Tech employees, and more.