Salman Rushdie ‘attacker on a mission’

The man accused of a frenzied ­attack on Salman Rushdie ‘came dangerously close to committing murder’ in front of an audience of thousands, a court in upstate New York has been told.

Salman Rushdie with his book Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder. Picture: AFP

The man accused of a frenzied ­attack on Salman Rushdie “came dangerously close to committing murder” in front of an audience of thousands when he plunged a knife into the author “over and over and over again”, a court in upstate New York was told.

Hadi Matar, 27, from New Jersey, was “seemingly on a mission” when he sprinted across the stage of an open-air amphitheatre to ­attack Rushdie, prosecutor Jason Schmidt said on Monday.

He said the jury would be shown video, including body camera footage from a state trooper who arrested Mr Matar as Rushdie “lay bleeding out from multiple places on his head and body”.

Mr Matar told the trooper he had other knives in a backpack he had dropped by the stage, Mr Schmidt said. The jury would be able to convict him “based on his own words”.

Mr Matar was heard to say “Free Palestine” twice as he entered the courtroom in Mayville, about 6km from the amphitheatre. He has denied charges of attempted murder and assault.

His lawyer, Lynn Schaffer, told the jury she was confident there was “at least one element of the charges” that would not be proved.

She said Mr Matar “did not sneak in” to the summer festival at the Chautauqua Institution, where Rushdie was speaking.

“He did not swim in from the lake,” she said. The fact he had bought a day pass to the event was “reflective of his intent to come and watch a lecture”. “This is not a whodunnit mystery. It’s not an Agatha Christie novel.” The prosecutor wanted the jury “to assume the worst”, she said. “They want you to ignore the gaps in his case.”

On August 12, 2022, Rushdie was on stage with Henry Reese, founder of a Pittsburgh charity that provides refuges for artists in exile, about to speak on the need to offer safe spaces to threatened writers. At least a thousand people were there and thousands more were watching a live video feed of the event, Mr Schmidt said.

As the two men were being introduced, a young man wearing a face mask and black jacket over a green camouflage T-shirt came walking down an aisle carrying a backpack that he dropped at the front of the stage while his right hand appeared buried in his clothing, Mr Schmidt said.

He “launched himself up the stairs” and sprinted at Rushdie, who sat with his back to him. The right hand emerged holding a knife and “this man … forcefully and very deliberately and efficiently and with speed plunged the knife into Mr Rushdie over and over and over and over again”, Mr Schmidt said.

He stabbed Rushdie in his right eye and in his face, neck, chest and thigh, and in the hand he raised to protect himself.

Rushdie “got to his feet and ran away from his attacker. The stabber went after him.”

Mr Reese tried to stop him and was slashed in the face, the lawyer said. Then Mr Reese and several audience members were able to subdue the masked man.

Rushdie had lost so much blood his heart struggled to pump. The knife penetrated his liver and wounded his small bowel. “Any one of these conditions could have killed Mr Rushdie” without the trauma care he received.

The trial continues.

The Times