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The trial for renowned novelist Salman Rushdie's stabbing in 2022 began on Monday, February 10, in New York. One of the witnesses in court identified the main suspect, Hadi Matar, as guilty during the hearing.
Jordan Steves, the media relations coordinator of the event where the stabbing took place, testified in court on Monday and identified 27-year-old Hadi Matar as the assailant who attempted to murder Salman Rushdie. Steves said:
"I ran as fast as I could, lowered my shoulder and got as much of him with as much of me as a I could to disrupt what was happening."
Salman Rushdie, 77, was stabbed by an assailant while on stage on August 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution Amphitheater in New York. The novelist was set to deliver a lecture on how to keep writers safe alongside fellow speaker Henry Reese.
The assailant stabbed Rushdie several times in his head, neck, left hand, and torso. The Booker-Prize-winning novelist survived the attack but was left blind in his right eye. The attack also left his liver and intestines damaged. The novelist detailed the attack and his recovery process in a memoir titled Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, which was released in 2024.
Hadi Matar, a 27-year-old suspect from New Jersey, was accused of attempting to murder and attacking Rushdie on stage without provocation. He has pleaded not guilty. District attorney Jason Schmidt revealed in court that he intends to bring 15 witnesses to testify in court against Matar.
District Attorney Jason Schmidt claimed Salman Rushdie was too shocked to react during the 2022 stabbing incident
While presenting his opening statements in court, District Attorney Jason Schmidt mentioned that Salman Rushdie was too stunned to react when he was stabbed multiple times on stage in August 2022. Schmidt said:
"Without hesitation, this man holding his knife forcefully and efficiently in its speed, plunged the knife into Mr. Rushdie over and over and over and over again. (...) It all happened so fast that even the person under attack, Mr. Rushdie, and the person sitting next to him, Mr. Reese, didn’t register what was happening."
Schmidt further claimed that the attack was quick as Hadi Matar allegedly came up using a staircase and ran for around 30 feet toward Salman Rushdie, who was seated on stage and about to begin his talk. When Matar allegedly began stabbing the author, Reese and he were initially seated due to shock.
Schmidt further alleged that Matar continued “stabbing, swinging, slicing into Mr. Rushdie’s head, his throat, his abdomen, and his thigh." Rushdie reportedly managed to get up after that and run away from the attacker, who was subdued by other people present. Henry Reese, Rushdie's co-panelist and the co-founder of City of Asylum in Pittsburgh, also suffered an injury above his eye.
"This is not a case of mistaken identity. Mr. Matar is the person who attacked Mr. Rushdie without provocation," the District Attorney said in court.
As reported by BBC, Salman Rushdie has been subject to multiple death threats and sustained various assassination attempts during his career. These began specifically after the publication of his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses.
The novel, based on the life of the founder of Islam, Prophet Muhammad, included elements of magic realism and surrealism, as is common in Rushdie's other works. The novelist is also known for his works like Midnight's Children, The Moor's Last Sigh, Quichotte, and Shame.
The death threats forced Salman Rushdie to remain in hiding for nine years, and he has often traveled with security, per BBC. A year after the release of The Satanic Verses, Islamic leader Ayatollah Khomeini declared a fatwa calling for Rushdie's execution. The book's Japanese translator, Hitoshi Igarashi, was stabbed to death after the fatwa. The UK government put Rushdie under protection after the fatwa was declared, leading to Iran breaking off ties with the UK in protest.
After the attack on him in 2022, Salman Rushdie spent six weeks in the hospital. In his 2024 memoir, Knife, the author wrote about what he would say to his attacker.
"I find I have very little to say to you. Our lives touched each other for an instant and then separated. Mine has improved since that day, while yours has deteriorated. You made a bad gamble and lost," Rushdie wrote.
According to CNN, Rushdie is expected to testify in court during Hadi Matar's trial, which began on Monday. The trial is reportedly set to last for two weeks.
