The man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie in 2022 and leaving him blind in one eye has gone on trial in upstate New York.
Hadi Matar is only 27 years old man and comes from New Jersey.
In 2022, he jumped on Salman Rushdie, hoping to kill him with a knife from behind as he held a speech in New York. Rushdie was in a near-coma, and came out without the eye, a severely damaged hand, and liver problems.
He spent six weeks in hospital.
Matar, who could face over thirty years in prison, has pleaded not guilty. His lawyers are betting on undermining witness testimony, which they claim “lack neutrality”.
Rushdie, the author of a satirical postmodern novel inspired by the life of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad, is loathed by many Muslims. Iran’s leader ordered a fatwa against him (a religious ruling concerning Islamic law), with a three-million dollar bounty for his head, which forced atheist Rushdie to go into hiding for nine years.
Only two weeks before the attack, Rushdie declared in an interview that death threats had diminished and that his life was now “relatively normal”.
But he said he had had a nightmare two days before the attack and hadn’t even wanted to go.
The trial will last for ten days. Rushdie himself will testify, coming face to face with his attacker. In the aftermath of the experience, he wrote a new book: Knife.
