Prosecutors in the trial of the man accused of attacking Salman Rushdie described to jurors Monday how the “Satanic Verses” author was stabbed repeatedly in a frenzied assault that left him blind in one eye.
Hadi Matar, a 27-year-old Lebanese-American who said “free Palestine” as he was led into court, is charged with attempted murder and assault over the August 12, 2022 attack at an arts event in the west of New York state.
Matar is accused of stabbing Rushdie about 10 times, leaving him in grave condition and without sight in his right eye.
Prosecutor District Attorney Jason Schmidt told how Rushdie had just taken his seat in the amphitheater in front of about 1,000 people.
“A young medium build man wearing dark colored facemask… appeared from the rear of the theater,” Schmidt said. “Once on the stage he rapidly, accelerated into a full-out run.
“(Matar) forcefully and efficiently and with speed plunged the knife into Mr Rushdie over and over and over again… swinging, slashing into Mr Rushdie’s head, neck, abdomen, upper thigh.”
Schmidt said Rushdie raised his hands to defend himself but remained seated after several blows had been landed.
The celebrated Indian-born writer, a naturalized American based in New York, has faced death threats since his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” was declared blasphemous by Iran’s supreme leader.
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, in 1989 calling on Muslims anywhere in the world to kill Rushdie.
Hezbollah endorsed the fatwa, the FBI has said, and Matar faces a separate prosecution in federal court on terrorism charges.
Matar, who wore a blue shirt and frequently conferred with his five-strong legal team in the ornate courtroom, previously told the New York Post that he had only read two pages of Rushdie’s novel but believed the author had “attacked Islam.”
Rushdie, now 77, suffered multiple stab wounds before attendees and guards could subdue the attacker, later identified by police as Matar.
A large media presence has gathered in the small lakefront resort town of Mayville near the Canadian border to follow the trial.
Matar’s defense team sought a delay in the case as his primary lawyer has been hospitalized, but judge David Foley denied that.
Matar’s side had previously sought to have the trial moved from Mayville, near where Rushdie was attacked, arguing a fair trial from the 12 jurors and four alternates recruited from the local area was impossible.
Rushdie lived in seclusion in London for the first decade after the fatwa was issued, but for the past 20 years — until the attack — he lived a relatively normal life in New York.
He was not in court Monday.
Last year, he published a memoir called “Knife” in which he recounted the near-death experience.
“Why didn’t I fight? Why didn’t I run? I just stood there like a pinata and let him smash me,” Rushdie wrote. “It didn’t feel dramatic, or particularly awful. It just felt probable… matter-of-fact.”
Iran has denied any link to the attacker — but said only Rushdie was to blame for the incident.
Rushdie explained in “Knife” that the attack has not changed his view on his most famous work.
“I am proud of the work I’ve done, and that very much includes ‘The Satanic Verses.’ If anyone’s looking for remorse, you can stop reading right here,” he said.
Rushdie has said that he did not want to attend the fateful talk, and two days before the incident he had a dream of being attacked by a gladiator with a spear in a Roman amphitheater.
“And then I thought, ‘Don’t be silly. It’s a dream,'” he told CBS.
