NY jury hears attacker 'dangerously close' to killing Salman Rushdie

NY jury hears attacker 'dangerously close' to killing Salman Rushdie

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

Prosecutors in the trial of the man accused of attacking Salman Rushdie told jurors Monday that the author came "dangerously close" to dying 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 entered court, is charged with attempted murder and assault over the August 12, 2022 attack at an arts event in western New York state.

Matar is accused of stabbing Rushdie about 10 times with a knife, leaving him in grave condition and without sight in his right eye, and also slashing another speaker at the gathering.

Prosecutor District Attorney Jason Schmidt told how Rushdie, who has faced death threats since the release of his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses," had just taken his seat in the amphitheater in front of about 1,000 people.

"A young medium-build man wearing a 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, an Indian-born British and American citizen, raised his hands to defend himself but remained seated after several blows landed.

- Blood, screaming -

"The Satanic Verses" was declared blasphemous by Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa, or religious edict, in 1989 calling on Muslims anywhere in the world to kill Rushdie.

Iran-backed Lebanese Shiite militant organization 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 Monday, previously told the New York Post that he had only read two pages of Rushdie's novel but believed the author had "attacked Islam."

New York-based Rushdie, now 77, suffered multiple stab wounds before bystanders subdued the attacker, later identified by police as Matar.

Venue employee Deborah Moore Kushmaul said she picked up the discarded knife, which she indicated had a six-inch blade, and gave it to police.

"I could see blood, I could see (bystanders) piling on. Our audience, many of whom were elderly, were screaming," she said.  

"My main concern was seeing all the bags that there might be a bomb, that there might be another attacker." 

Matar came "dangerously close" to killing Rushdie, Schmidt said, reporting that the author was stabbed through the right eye with such ferocity that it severed the optical nerve.

Rushdie's Adam's apple was also partially lacerated, and his liver and small bowel penetrated.

"His blood pressure was low -- he lost so much blood," said the prosecutor.

Rushdie was not in court Monday but is expected to testify at the trial.

- Life under fatwa -

One of Matar's lawyers, Lynn Schaffer, said in an opening argument punctuated with Super Bowl references and bouts of coughing that prosecutors would seek to present the case as "straightforward -- open and shut."

"Pay attention to the assumptions that the police witnesses make... how does that color the way they investigate this case?" she said. "They assume things about Mr Matar that affect the way they investigate."

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 the request.

Matar's side also sought to have the trial moved from Mayville, near where Rushdie was attacked, arguing a fair trial with local jurors was impossible.

Rushdie lived in seclusion in London for a decade after the fatwa, but for the past 20 years -- until the attack -- he lived relatively normally in New York.

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," Rushdie wrote.

Iran has denied any link to the attacker -- but said only Rushdie was to blame for the incident.

The case continues Tuesday.

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