The Start of the Hearing Sessions in New York in the Case of Salman Rushdie’s Attacker
Prosecutors will begin briefing the jury on Monday about the details of Hadi Matar’s infiltration into the location where Salman Rushdie was giving a lecture before he attacked the author of The Satanic Verses, causing him to lose sight in one of his eyes.
Matar (27 years old), an American of Lebanese descent, is being tried for attempted murder and assault following the attack on August 12, 2022, at an arts gathering in western New York State.
On that date, at the beginning of a literary seminar on the shores of the Great Lakes in western New York, Rushdie was stabbed about ten times in the neck, face, and abdomen by Matar, before the attacker was subdued.
Matar will be tried in Chautauqua County Court, where global media will head to the small town of Mayville to cover the case. The defendant also faces a separate trial on terrorism charges in a federal court.
Matar had pleaded not guilty to the charges of attempted murder and assault in local courts and faces the possibility of a 25-year prison sentence.
Prosecutors are expected to focus on the mechanics of the attack, abundant video footage, and eyewitness testimony, rather than Matar’s ideological motive, according to U.S. media outlets.
