Jurors were presented with a gripping account of how the 2022 knife attack on renowned novelist Salman Rushdie unfolded within mere seconds at a literary event in New York. During the prosecution’s opening statement on Monday, the court heard how Rushdie narrowly escaped death.
The attack occurred at the Chautauqua Institution, where Rushdie was about to speak on the importance of protecting writers. A poet introducing the discussion had barely begun his second sentence when Hadi Matar, the accused, suddenly sprinted onto the open-air stage, taking about ten rapid steps toward a seated Rushdie. According to Chautauqua District Attorney Jason Schmidt, “Without hesitation, upon reaching Mr. Rushdie, he very deliberately and forcefully and efficiently at speed plunged the knife into Mr. Rushdie over and over and over and over and over and over again.”
Rushdie sustained approximately 15 stab wounds, including severe injuries to his head, neck, torso, and left hand. His right eye was permanently blinded, and his liver and intestines were significantly damaged.
Rushdie is set to testify about the extent of his injuries at Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, a few miles north of the Chautauqua Institution, where the incident took place.
Matar, 26, has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault. The latter charge stems from the attack on Henry Reese, who was moderating the discussion with Rushdie. Reese, the co-founder of Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum, a nonprofit organization supporting exiled writers, is also scheduled to testify.
The jury will have access to video footage of the assault, which took place in front of nearly 1,000 audience members, as well as the moment Matar was apprehended. Schmidt also stated that jurors would hear testimony from the Erie trauma surgeon who treated Rushdie after he had lost a life-threatening amount of blood.
When Matar entered the courtroom dressed in a blue shirt and dark pants, he reportedly muttered, “Free Palestine, free Palestine,” while walking past the public gallery before the jury was seated.
His lead defense attorney, Nathaniel Barone, was unable to be present due to illness. However, despite requests from Barone’s colleagues for a postponement, Judge David Foley denied their appeal to delay the trial.
Rushdie, who has been the target of death threats since the publication of his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, has since written a memoir detailing the attack and his long recovery. In his book, he imagines a dialogue with his attacker. Reflecting on that harrowing day, Rushdie has stated that he genuinely believed he was going to die on stage at the Chautauqua Institution.
The Fatwa Against Rushdie
Born into a Muslim Kashmiri family, Rushdie was forced into hiding under British police protection in 1989 after Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared The Satanic Verses to be blasphemous.
Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling for Rushdie’s assassination, along with anyone associated with the book’s publication. This decree led to a multimillion-dollar bounty on the author’s head and was linked to the murder of his Japanese translator, Hitoshi Igarashi, in 1991.
Although the Iranian government officially stated in 1998 that it would no longer endorse the fatwa, Rushdie remained cautious. Eventually, he ended his years of seclusion and became an active figure in New York City’s literary circles, where he now resides.
Following his arrest, Matar told the New York Post that he had traveled from New Jersey to attend the event after learning about Rushdie’s scheduled appearance. He expressed his disdain for the author, claiming that Rushdie had attacked Islam. According to the Post, Matar, a dual citizen of the United States and Lebanon, admitted that he was surprised Rushdie survived the assault.
The trial has already faced multiple delays. Most recently, proceedings were postponed when Matar’s defense team unsuccessfully attempted to relocate the case, arguing that their client would not receive an impartial trial in Chautauqua. The trial is now being conducted in Mayville, a small lakeside town near the Canadian border with a population of around 1,500.
If convicted of attempted murder, Matar could face a maximum prison sentence of 25 years.
Additionally, Matar is facing federal charges filed by the U.S. Attorney’s Office in western New York. He has been accused of attempting to murder Rushdie as an act of terrorism and of providing material support to Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon that the U.S. government classifies as a terrorist organization.
These federal charges will be addressed in a separate trial in Buffalo.