BUFFALO, N.Y. (AP) 鈥� Four years after being stabbed on an amphitheater stage, sat across a courtroom from his Thursday and told jurors for a second time about the ambush that nearly killed him.
The prize-winning writer recalled feeling what he thought was a punch under his chin, then feeling blood coming from his neck.
Soon 鈥淚 was on the stage, lying down, with an enormous pool of blood all around me,鈥� Rushdie testified. 鈥淚t was an enormous and expansive lake of blood.鈥�
A Buffalo federal court jury watched Rushdie fixedly as he testified 鈥� and at one point removed his glasses to show his now sightless right eye 鈥� at Hadi Matar’s terrorism trial. He has pleaded not guilty.
Matar already was convicted of a state-level attempted murder charge in at a cultural institution where Rushdie was poised to speak about threats to writers and artists. Federal prosecutors say Matar was 鈥� an Iranian leader’s 1989 call for Rushdie’s death because of his novel 鈥淭he Satanic Verses.鈥�
鈥淚 can鈥檛 say what his ambitions or his aim was, but the wounds were dispersed across my body,鈥� Rushdie testified.
Rushdie: Knife came 鈥榓 millimeter from my brain’
Rushdie, 79, was composed and straightforward during little more than an hour on the witness stand. He outlined the attack 鈥� which blinded him in the right eye, , paralyzed his left hand for a time and briefly put him on a ventilator 鈥� and his lengthy recuperation and enduring injuries.
鈥淭he knife was a millimeter from my brain,鈥� said Rushdie, whose attacker climbed on stage, approached from behind him and then slashed the author 15 times as the Chautauqua Institution audience gasped. Spectators and another speaker, Henry Reese, scrambled to aid Rushdie and restrain Matar, who was arrested by law enforcement assigned to the event. Rushdie has described the stabbing and recovery previously , in a memoir and in interviews and other outlets.
As Rushdie testified, Matar, 28, looked down at the defense table, sometimes rested his hand on his chin or turned to speak to his lawyer, looking toward the author only as Rushdie walked out a door. The writer glanced at Matar fleetingly, if at all.
Defense lawyer asks Rushdie about book’s blowback
Matar’s defense has argued that prosecutors can’t prove his intent or mindset at the time of the attack 鈥� a key element in their claim that it was an act of terrorism motivated by allegiance to Iran’s government and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. Matar, currently serving , faces a potential life sentence if convicted of federal charges that include engaging in an act of transnational terrorism.
When defense lawyer Nathaniel Barone asked whether Rushdie believed the defendant had ties to terrorism, the author replied: 鈥淚 had no knowledge, but I had my suspicions.
Iran鈥檚 late issued the 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, calling for Rushdie to be killed over 鈥淭he Satanic Verses,鈥� which includes a dream sequence about Islam鈥檚 that some Muslims considered blasphemous. The novel sparked often-violent protests against Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim family, and the fatwa drove him into hiding for years. He gradually emerged after the Iranian government distanced itself from the order in 1998, though the fatwa was never officially repealed.
鈥淔or two decades or more, I led a public life without a hint of trouble,鈥� Rushdie testified Thursday.
Barone repeatedly asked Rushdie whether he had anticipated blowback from the book.
鈥淧robably, but I don鈥檛 believe the book to be on trial here. I believe someone else is on trial,鈥� Rushdie said. At Barone’s request, the judge struck the comment from the court transcript.
Matar may testify, lawyer says
Prosecutors say Matar was animated partly by comments that a former Hezbollah leader, the late Hassan Nasrallah, made about Rushdie and the fatwa in 2006. The U.S.-born Matar also holds citizenship in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, and Matar’s mother has said a 2018 trip there left him moody and withdrawn.
Matar started researching Rushdie in 2020 and eventually wrote to himself, 鈥淲e need to kill him ASAP,鈥� Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch said in an opening statement Wednesday. Matar cast the killing as part of what he considered a jihad, or holy war, Lynch said.
Matar’s New Jersey bedroom and electronics held photos and other material showing his regard for Hezbollah, and he carried a fake driver’s license with a name similar to that of a Hezbollah figure, said Lynch. The U.S. government designates Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.
Matar’s lawyer has said the government is asking jurors 鈥渢o connect the dots鈥� in a case without hard evidence about what he was thinking on the date of the attack. In a seeming effort to scrutinize how much the fatwa was on anyone鈥檚 mind by Aug. 12, 2022, the defense also has asked some witnesses about the relatively light security around Rushdie that day. A state trooper and a sheriff’s deputy were assigned to the event.
Matar declined to testify at his state court trial but may do so at the federal trial, Barone said outside court Thursday.
Rushdie was born in India, raised in Britain and is now a U.S. citizen. He won the Booker Prize in 1981 for his novel 鈥淢idnight鈥檚 Children.鈥� His most recent work is a book of short stories and novellas published last year.
Iran’s government in the 2022 stabbing, but its Foreign Ministry’s then-spokesperson suggested Rushdie invited trouble by insulting Islam. Hezbollah’s Nasrallah did not comment on the attack.
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Peltz reported from New York.
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