The man who carried out the horrific knife attack on Friday against author Salman Rushdie pleaded not guilty Saturday to charges of second-degree attempted murder and assault and was held without bail, according to multiple reports.

Meanwhile, the acclaimed author remains in the hospital with devastating injuries. The hospital has not released any further information, but his agent wrote the New York Times Friday:

Rushdie, who had spent decades under proscription by Iran, was on a ventilator Friday evening after undergoing hours of surgery, according to an email from his agent, Andrew Wylie.

Efforts to reach Mr. Wylie on Saturday were unsuccessful.Wylie said on Friday that the author’s condition was “not good.” Mr. Rushdie might lose an eye, his liver had been damaged and the nerves in his arm were severed, he said.

As RedState reported Friday a man now identified as 24-year Hadi Matar jumped onto a stage in upstate New York where Rushdie was about to deliver a lecture and started stabbing and beating him. During his arraignment, prosecutors further described Rushdie’s horrific wounds, as CNN reports:

Rushdie’s injuries included three stab wounds to the right side of the front of his neck, four stab wounds to his stomach, a puncture wound to his right eye, a puncture wound to his chest, and a laceration on his right thigh, according to Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt, who provided details of the injuries during Matar’s arraignment.

Here’s the guy who caused those injuries:

The man suspected of stabbing Salman Rushdie is named Hadi Matar but he was carrying this fake driver license at the time of his arrest. pic.twitter.com/ORSla0ofOC

— Karol Markowicz (@karol) August 12, 2022

Prosecutors described the attack as planned. Per The Times:

In court [Saturday], prosecutors said that the attack on the author was premeditated and targeted. Mr. Matar traveled by bus to the intellectual retreat in western New York and purchased a pass that allowed him to attend the talk Mr. Rushdie was to give on Friday morning, according to the prosecutors.

After Matar’s not-guilty plea, the judge refused bail and he was taken to the Chautauqua County Jail. He will appear back in court Friday. New York police said in a briefing Friday that they did not yet know Matar’s motivation and would work with the FBI to investigate. One doesn’t have to look far though to have enough information to make an educated guess. As Nick Arama reported:

His Facebook had a lot of Iranian connections with pictures of the Ayatollah and Qasem Soleimani. According to the NY Post, Matar made posts in support of Iran and its Revolutionary Guard, and in support of Shi’a extremism more broadly.

The Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared a fatwa in 1989, calling for Rushdie’s death for writing his book, “The Satanic Verses,” which the Ayatollah declared blasphemous. Iran’s present “Supreme Leader” Ayatollah Khameini reminded everyone in 2019 the fatwa was still on.

Remember, Iran is the country with which former President Barack Obama made a nuclear pact, and Joe Biden has been trying to get the despotic leaders to re-negotiate. Just last week an Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps member was formally charged with actively plotting the assassination of former U.S. Ambassador to the United Nations and National Security Advisor John Bolton. The IRGC responded to the Rushdie stabbing by posting on Telegram: “When the date and time comes, Trump & Bolton will see the [same] fate as Salman Rushdie. Even if many years pass…”  Evil, right in plain sight.

Iran has been plotting for the death of Salman Rushdie since 1989 and offered a bounty to anyone who assassinates him.

Yesterday, he was attacked on stage.

Meanwhile, the Biden administration is open to having additional talks with this dangerous, terrorist regime.

— Sen. Marsha Blackburn (@MarshaBlackburn) August 13, 2022

President Biden issued a statement Saturday saying:

Truth. Courage. Resilience. The ability to share ideas without fear. These are the building blocks of any free and open society. And today, we reaffirm our commitment to those deeply American values in solidarity with Rushdie and all those who stand for freedom of expression.

Exactly, which is why we shouldn’t trust the dictators who run Iran. As one Twitter poster notes, the statement doesn’t include the words “Khamenei,” “Iran,” “IRGC”, or “Fatwa.” It fails to hold the Iranians to account at all. The attack once again shows that Iran is a dangerous, evil foe and not one to be trusted, especially in a nuclear deal. The fatwa placed on Rushdie’s head was against everything our country stands for, and the current Iranian regime’s failure to denounce it shows us their true colors. Again.