The father of the man accused of trying to murder writer Salman Rushdie has locked himself in his home in southern Lebanon and refuses to speak to anyone, local mayor Ali Tehfe said on Sunday.
The suspect in the attack carried out last Friday in the US state of New York was identified by police as Hadi Matar, 24, from New Jersey. He pleaded not guilty. Matar is of Lebanese origins and his family is from the city of Yaroun, in southern Lebanon.
According to Tehfe, the suspect’s parents immigrated to the United States and Matar was born and raised there, but his father returned to Lebanon several years ago.
“His father is in the country now, but he has locked himself up and is not accepting to give any kind of statement to anyone. We tried to talk to him, we sent people, we went and knocked on the door, but he is not willing to talk to anyone,” Tehfe told Reuters.
A member of the Lebanese armed group Hezbollah said Saturday that the group had no information about the attack on Rushdie.
“We don’t know anything about this matter, so we won’t comment,” the man told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.
Hezbollah is supported by Iran, whose former supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, called on Muslims in 1989 to kill Rushdie for blasphemy.
Source: CNN Brasil
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