Salman Rushdie attack: FBI weighing hate crime investigation as suspect Hadi Matar pleads not guilty
Fox News
The FBI is investigating the Salman Rushdie stabbing and considering a hate crime investigation into suspect Hadi Madar, who pleaded not guilty in a New York courtroom Thursday.
Defense attorney Nathaniel Barone, left, and Hadi Matar, 24, right, listen during an arraignment in the Chautauqua County Courthouse in Mayville, New York. (Joshua Bessex) Author Salman Rushdie was stabbed and critically injured on Aug. 12. (HERBERT NEUBAUER/APA/AFP) People protest Salman Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses" in 1989. (PA Images) Audrey Conklin is a digital reporter for FOX Business and Fox News. Email tips to audrey.conklin@fox.com or on Twitter at @audpants.
Rushdie was hospitalized in critical condition after the attack.
FBI Public Information Officer Beau Duffy told Fox News Digital in a Thursday statement that its investigation is "ongoing," and the agency is evaluating the possibility of investigating the stabbing as a hate crime, "but no hate crime charges have been filed at this time."