Salman Rushdie to testify as attempted murder trial of his attacker begins

Author Salman Rushdie is set to testify as one of the first witnesses in the trial of Hadi Matar, the man accused of attempting to kill him during a 2022 event in New York.

The trial is taking place at the Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, a short distance from the Chautauqua Institution, where the attack occurred.

On Monday, attorneys will present their opening statements to the jury before Rushdie takes the stand. Matar, 26, faces charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault after allegedly attacking the renowned author with a knife during a public lecture about protecting writers from harm.

Video footage from the incident shows Matar rushing onto the stage and stabbing Rushdie, now 77, multiple times in the head, neck, torso, and left hand, leaving him blind in one eye and with severe injuries to his liver and intestines.

Matar has pleaded not guilty, while Rushdie, who has since published a memoir detailing the attack and his recovery, has recalled believing he would not survive.

Rushdie has faced threats since the release of his controversial novel "The Satanic Verses" (1988), which Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini condemned as blasphemous. A fatwa issued by Khomeini called for Rushdie’s execution, leading to a multimillion-dollar bounty and the 1991 murder of his Japanese translator, Hitoshi Igarashi.

For nearly a decade, Rushdie lived under British police protection before the Iranian government distanced itself from the fatwa in 1998, allowing him to re-enter public life. Since then, he has been a prominent figure in the New York literary scene.

Following his arrest, Matar told the New York Post that he had traveled from New Jersey after seeing the event advertised, stating he disliked Rushdie for allegedly attacking Islam. He also expressed surprise that Rushdie survived.

Matar, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Lebanon, has faced delays in his trial, with his defense attorney unsuccessfully seeking a venue change, arguing that he could not receive a fair trial in Chautauqua County.

If convicted of attempted murder, he faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison.

In addition to the state charges, Matar also faces federal terrorism-related charges in a separate case in Buffalo, New York. Prosecutors allege that he attempted to murder Rushdie as an act of terrorism and that he provided material support to Hezbollah, a Lebanese militant group designated as a terrorist organisation by the U.S.