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 , 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 amphitheatre in front of about 1,000 people.
The novel contained blasphemous depictions of the Prophet Muhammad and caused widespread offence to Muslims around the world on its release.
“A young medium-build man wearing a dark coloured facemask… appeared from the rear of the theatre,” 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.
The Satanic Verses was condemned 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 Shia Muslim group 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.
