Salman Rushdie testifies at the trial of the man accused of trying to kill him

Famed British-American writer of Indian origin Salman Rushdie (77) testified Tuesday in the trial of Hadi Matar (27), who is accused of attempting to assassinate him during a conference held in New York in 2022.

During the attack, in which Rushdie was allegedly stabbed by the young Lebanese-American, the author lost an eye.

It should be noted that in 1989, Ruhollah Khomeini, then supreme leader of Iran, issued a fatwa (Islamic religious ruling) against Rushdie following the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses, inspired by Mahomet's novel.

The deposition, which took place in a New York court, marked the first time Matar and Rushdie had met since the attack.

According to the case, Matar is accused of approaching Rushdie, who was on a stage, pulling knives from a backpack and stabbing him about 10 times. It further notes that the brutal attack endangered the writer's life.

"I was screaming because of the pain"

During his statement, the writer expressed, "I was aware of this person rushing at me from my right-hand side. I was aware of someone with dark hair and dark clothes … I was struck by his eyes which seemed dark and ferocious to me."

"He hit me very hard around my jawline and neck. Initially I thought he’d punched me with his fist, but very soon afterwards I saw a large quantity of blood pouring on to my clothes. He was hitting me repeatedly. Hitting and slashing," he added.

Rushdie commented that "Everything happened very quickly. I was stabbed repeatedly, and most painfully in my eye. I struggled to get away. I held up my hand in self-defense and was stabbed through that."

When asked how many stab wounds he received, Rushdie said he "wasn’t keeping score".

The author further stated that despite trying, he was unable to get away from his attacker.

"I was very badly injured. I couldn’t stand up any more," he said. He added that Matar had hit him about 15 times.

Rushdie also referred to the wound that took the sight out of his right eye and took off his eye patch to show the empty socket.

"I was screaming because of the pain," he expressed.

"I became aware of a great quantity of blood I was lying in. My sense of time was quite cloudy, I was in pain from my eye and hand, and it occurred to me quite clearly I was dying," Rushdie added.

Rushdie said he was carried on a stretcher and rushed by helicopter to the emergency room, although he said he was partially aware of what was happening until the helicopter landed, but he no longer remembers anything that happened after that.

Rushdie's hospitalization lasted two weeks, during which he underwent surgeries on his eye and was connected to an artificial respirator.

Matar's contradictions

Matar has denied the charges against him. However, upon being transferred to the court he muttered "From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free."

However, in statements made to the New York Post following his arrest in 2022, Matar stated that he assaulted Rushdie for having "attacked Islam," although he denied having been in contact with the Iranian regime or having read the book The Satanic Verses in its entirety.

Matar further claimed to be a sympathizer of the Iranian regime and the Iranian Revolutionary Guard.

Matar will be tried on federal terrorism charges, in which it will be difficult to rule out the question of motivation.

According to the charges, the young man was motivated by support for the Iranian regime's fatwa by the Lebanese terrorist organization Hezbollah.

Subsequently, a trial will be held in Buffalo, USA, on federal charges of terrorism transcending national borders, providing material support to terrorists and attempting to provide material support to a terrorist organization.