Trial Begins For Salman Rushdie’s Attacker

India-West News Desk

NEW YORK, NY – Jury selection began on February 4 in the trial of Hadi Matar, the 26-year-old accused of attempting to murder novelist Salman Rushdie during a 2022 lecture in New York.

Matar was captured on cellphone video rushing the stage at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, where Rushdie, 77, was being introduced. The attack left Rushdie with multiple stab wounds, resulting in the loss of his right eye and severe liver damage.

Matar has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault. His trial, held at Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, has been delayed twice, most recently due to an unsuccessful attempt by his defense to move the case to another venue. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison, Reuters said.

Rushdie, who has lived under threat since the 1988 publication of The Satanic Verses, is expected to be among the first witnesses. His novel was deemed blasphemous by Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa calling for his assassination. Though Iran’s government distanced itself from the fatwa in 1998, Rushdie remained a target and has spoken in interviews about believing he would die on stage that day. He later published a memoir recounting the attack.

Following his arrest, Matar had told the New York Post that he traveled from his home in New Jersey after seeing the event advertised, citing his dislike for Rushdie and accusing him of attacking Islam.