An official with the Iranian-backed Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said on Saturday that the group had no further information about the knife attack on writer Salman Rushdie.
“We don’t know anything about this matter, so we won’t comment,” the official told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Hezbollah is supported by Iran, whose previous supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, in 1988 issued a fatwa, or religious edict, urging Muslims to kill Rushdie for blasphemy.
The alleged attacker was identified by police as 24-year-old Hadi Matar from New Jersey. Matar is originally Lebanese and his family hails from the southern Lebanese city of Yaroun, Yaroun Mayor Ali Tehfe told Reuters.
Tehfe said the parents emigrated to the United States and Matar was born and raised there.
When asked whether Matar or his parents were affiliated with or supported Hezbollah, Tehfe said he had “no information” about his parents’ or Matar’s political views while living abroad.
Source: CNN Brasil
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