The man suspected of attacking novelist Salman Rushdie on Friday has been charged with attempted murder and assault, US prosecutors said on Saturday.
"The individual responsible for the attack yesterday, Hadi Matar, has now been formally charged with Attempted Murder in the Second Degree and Assault in the Second Degree," Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said in a statement on Saturday.
"He was arraigned on these charges last night and remanded without bail," the statement added.
Rushdie remained hospitalized Saturday after suffering serious injuries in the stabbing attack.
Matar, 24, was arrested after the attack at the Chautauqua Institution, a nonprofit education and retreat center where Rushdie was scheduled to speak.
Rushdie, 75, suffered a damaged liver, severed nerves in an arm and an eye, and was on a ventilator and unable to speak, his agent Andrew Wylie said Friday evening. Rushdie was likely to lose the injured eye.
Authorities said Matar is from Fairview, New Jersey. He was born in the United States to Lebanese parents who emigrated from Yaroun, a border village in southern Lebanon, the mayor of the village, Ali Tehfe, told The Associated Press.
Investigators were working to determine whether the assailant acted alone.
