Salman Rushdie testifies at federal terrorism trial of man who stabbed him, recalls 'lake of blood'
The author described the 2022 knife attack that blinded him in one eye, as federal prosecutors argue Hadi Matar acted on behalf of Hezbollah to enforce Iran's fatwa.
Prize-winning writer Salman Rushdie, 79, testified for just over an hour on Thursday in Federal District Court in Buffalo, New York, at the terrorism trial of Hadi Matar. It was the second time Rushdie has testified about the attack, having done so last year at Matar's state trial. The author, wearing a dark suit and soft-soled shoes, was composed as he described the 2022 knife attack that nearly killed him. At the request of federal prosecutor Timothy C. Lynch, Rushdie removed his glasses, one lens clear and the other darkly shaded, to reveal his blinded right eye. "As you can see, there's nothing there now," he told the jury, which watched him fixedly.
The 2022 attack at Chautauqua
On August 12, 2022, Rushdie was at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, preparing to discuss threats to writers and artists, when Matar, his face obscured by a black mask, rushed the amphitheater stage from behind. Rushdie recalled feeling a punch under his chin, then blood coming from his neck. "I was on the stage, lying down, with an enormous pool of blood all around me," he testified. "It was an enormous and expansive lake of blood." The attacker slashed him 15 times. "The knife was a millimeter from my brain," Rushdie said. The wounds blinded his right eye, damaged his liver, paralyzed his left hand for a time, and put him briefly on a ventilator. Spectators and fellow speaker Henry Reese scrambled to aid Rushdie and restrain Matar until law enforcement arrived.
- Iran's leader issues fatwa calling for Rushdie's death over The Satanic Verses.
- Matar stabs Rushdie 15 times on stage at Chautauqua Institution.
- Matar convicted of attempted murder in state trial, sentenced to 25 years.
- Rushdie testifies at federal terrorism trial in Buffalo.
Federal terrorism charges
Matar, now 28, was convicted last year on state-level attempted murder charges and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges, which include two counts of providing material support to a terrorist group and one count of terrorism transcending national boundaries. Prosecutors argue that Matar acted at the direction of Hezbollah, the Iran-backed militia in Lebanon, to enforce the 1989 fatwa calling for Rushdie's death over his novel The Satanic Verses. If convicted, Matar faces a life sentence.
Defense and courtroom dynamics
Defense attorney Nathaniel L. Barone II contends that while Matar was upset about Rushdie's work, prosecutors cannot prove he was following orders from Hezbollah or the Iranian government. During Rushdie's testimony, Matar looked down at the defense table, sometimes resting his hand on his chin or conferring with his lawyer. He glanced at the author only as Rushdie left the courtroom. Rushdie looked at Matar fleetingly, if at all. "I can't say what his ambitions or his aim was, but the wounds were dispersed across my body," Rushdie said of the attack.
A decades-long shadow
The fatwa, issued by Iran's leader in 1989, forced Rushdie into years of hiding. He later resumed public life, dropping his armed security. The 2022 stabbing shattered that normality. Rushdie had previously described the attack at Matar's state trial, in a memoir, and in interviews. The federal trial continues.
