Arizona Tribune - NY jury hears attacker 'dangerously close' to killing Salman Rushdie

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 with a knife, leaving him in grave condition and without sight in his right eye.

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 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 landed.

"The Satanic Verses" was declared blasphemous by Iran's supreme leader, and the Indian-born writer, a naturalized American based in New York, has long faced security risks.

- 'Attacked Islam'? -

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 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."

Rushdie, now 77, suffered multiple stab wounds before attendees and guards could subdue the attacker, later identified by police as Matar.

Matar came "dangerously close" to killing Rushdie, Schmidt claimed, reporting that he stabbed the author through the right eye with such ferocity "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.

- Life under fatwa -

One of Matar's lawyers, Lynn Schaffer, said in an opening argument punctuated 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 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," Rushdie wrote.

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

"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," Rushdie wrote.

K.Hill--AT