Salman Rushdie trial: Author describes moment of attack as he gives evidence in New York courtroom

Salman Rushdie has described in court the moment he was attacked on stage.

The British-Indian author, who was stabbed as he was preparing to give a speech on 12 August 2022, took the stand in a New York courtroom to give evidence against the man charged in the attack.

Rushdie, 77, was blinded in one eye in the attack, suffered a severely damaged hand, and spent months recovering.

He told the court: “I only saw him at the last minute. I was aware of someone wearing black clothes, or dark clothes and a black face mask.

“I was very struck by his eyes, which were dark and seemed very ferocious to me. I thought he was hitting me with his fist but I saw a large quantity of blood pouring onto my clothes.

“He was hitting me repeatedly. Hitting and slashing.”

Rushdie then told the court about feeling “a sense of great pain and shock” after the attack, adding he was “aware of the fact that there was an enormous quantity of blood that I was lying in”.

“It occurred to me that I was dying. That was my predominant thought,” he added.

His wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, cried from her seat in the courtroom as Rushdie testified.

Hadi Matar, 27, is charged with attempted murder and assault for attacking Rushdie – who also wrote Midnight’s Children and Victory City – at the Chautauqua Institution in New York.

He has pleaded not guilty, and the trial continues. It is expected to last up to two weeks.

The assault charge regards Henry Reese, the co-founder of Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum who was conducting the talk with Rushdie that morning. He is also set to testify.

A public defender representing Matar said the case is not as straightforward as prosecutors say, adding: “Something very bad did happen, but the district attorney has to prove much more than that.”

District Attorney Jason Schmidt said on Tuesday that “this is not a case of mistaken identity,” but added jurors are unlikely to hear about a fatwa issued by the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for Rushdie’s death.

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After the fatwa was announced in 1989 following the publication of his book The Satanic Verses – which some Muslims consider blasphemous – Rushdie spent years in hiding.

Mr Schmidt added that discussing Matar’s motive would be unnecessary in the state trial, given the attack was seen by a live audience.