Rushdie is anticipated to testify as one of the first witnesses in the trial of Hadi Matar, the man accused of carrying out the knife attack.
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Rushdie Stabbing Trial Begins in New York
MAYVILLE, N.Y. — In 2022, Salman Rushdie was moments away from delivering a lecture in western New York when a man rushed toward him and stabbed him repeatedly. As the author raised his hand in defense, the knife struck it before landing further blows to his neck, chest, and eye.
“My legs give way, and I fall,” Rushdie recounted in a memoir that followed the attack.
Now, Rushdie is expected to return to the same county where the attack occurred as one of the first witnesses in the trial of his alleged assailant, Hadi Matar.
Jury selection for the case begins Tuesday. Matar, 27, of Fairview, New Jersey, has pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault.
Under different circumstances, Rushdie’s memoir—detailing his experience and recovery—might have served as crucial evidence. However, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt emphasized that this was not a crime hidden from view.
Jurors will review video footage, photographs, and documentation of the incident. Schmidt expects about 15 witnesses to testify, with the trial projected to last several weeks.
Matar’s attorney, Nathaniel Barone, has not disclosed his defense strategy but has pushed back against critics questioning why Matar did not accept a plea deal.
“This is about due process,” Barone said. “Everyone is entitled to a fair trial.”
Federal Terrorism Charges
In a separate indictment, federal prosecutors allege Matar was motivated by a terrorist organization’s support for a fatwa—an edict calling for Rushdie’s death. He faces additional charges in U.S. District Court in Buffalo, including terrorism-related offenses and providing material support to a terrorist organization.
Rushdie has long been a target of extremist threats. The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued the fatwa in 1989 following the publication of The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims consider blasphemous. Prosecutors say Matar believed the fatwa was endorsed by Hezbollah and reinforced in a 2006 speech by its then-leader, Hassan Nasrallah.
However, in the Chautauqua County trial, Schmidt said he does not plan to introduce the fatwa as evidence, stating that the case is a straightforward stabbing.
“I don’t see a need to get into motive,” he said. “I’d like to avoid all of that.”
Barone has argued that jurors should still be screened for bias against people of Middle Eastern descent, given the previous court discussions of the fatwa.
Matar, a U.S. citizen with dual Lebanese nationality, has been held without bail since his arrest. Onlookers tackled him after the attack, which also injured event moderator Henry Reese, co-founder of City of Asylum in Pittsburgh.
Rushdie, now 77, was left blind in his right eye and suffered permanent damage to his hand.
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