Accused of Trying to Kill Salman Rushdie Begins Trial in the U.S.

The writer Salman Rushdie was stabbed during an event in New York in 2022 and ended up going blind in one eye.

The trial of Hadi Matar, the 27-year-old accused of trying to kill writer Salman Rushdie, begins this Monday in New York, in the United States. The charges are attempted murder and assault.

In the attack, which took place in August 2022 during a literary conference in New York, the British-Indian writer was stabbed several times and ended up blind in one eye. The attacker pleaded not guilty in court. 

The trial, which will take place in Mayville, New York, will be decided by a jury, which will hear several witnesses, including Rushdie himself.

Salman Rushdie is the author of The Satanic Verses, for which he was sentenced to death by the Iran of religious leader Ayatollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa against the writer.

Living under threat of death since 1989, after the fatwa was issued, Salman Rushdie had long wondered who was going to kill him, according to the writer himself, in public statements, detailing that when he was stabbed, his first thought was “so it's you!”.

Salman Rushdie was stabbed in August 2022 during a literary conference in Chautauqua, New York, by an American of Lebanese origin, suspected of being a sympathizer of the Islamic Republic of Iran.

Seriously injured, the writer later lost an eye and suffered nerve damage in his hand.