Trial of Salman Rushdie’s alleged attacker begins in New York

The trial of Hadi Matar, the man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie and blinding him in one eye, began Tuesday with jury selection.

Matar has been charged with attempted murder and assault after allegedly rushing the stage at a literary event in New York in 2022 and stabbing Rushdie at least 10 times. Matar has pleaded not guilty.

The trial at the Chautauqua County Court in New York was delayed twice after Matar’s defense team asked to review Rushdie’s then-upcoming memoir as evidence, and then to request the trial be moved to another county. Rushdie is set to testify during the trial.

Matar was separately charged with providing material support to the Iran-backed Hezbollah, which the US designates as a terrorist group. Semafor’s Jay Solomon was the first to report the probe into Matar’s potential ties to the Lebanese group.

Rushdie has faced several death threats following the publication of his 1989 book The Satanic Verses, which some considered blasphemous; that year, Iran’s former Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for “all brave Muslims of the world” to kill him.