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Four years after being stabbed on an amphitheater stage,\u00a0Salman Rushdie\u00a0sat across a courtroom from his\u00a0convicted attacker\u00a0Thursday and told jurors for a second time about the ambush that nearly killed him.<\/p>\n
The prize-winning writer recalled feeling what he thought was a punch under his chin, then feeling blood coming from his neck.<\/p>\n
Soon \u201cI was on the stage, lying down, with an enormous pool of blood all around me,\u201d Rushdie testified. \u201cIt was an enormous and expansive lake of blood.\u201d<\/p>\n
A Buffalo federal court jury watched Rushdie fixedly as he testified \u2014 and at one point removed his glasses to show his now sightless right eye \u2014 at Hadi Matar\u2019s terrorism trial. He has pleaded not guilty.<\/p>\n
Matar already was convicted of a state-level attempted murder charge in\u00a0the 2022 attack\u00a0at a cultural institution where Rushdie was poised to speak about threats to writers and artists. Federal prosecutors say Matar was\u00a0acting on such a threat\u00a0\u2014 an Iranian leader\u2019s 1989 call for Rushdie\u2019s death because of his novel \u201cThe Satanic Verses.\u201d<\/p>\n
\u201cI can\u2019t say what his ambitions or his aim was, but the wounds were dispersed across my body,\u201d Rushdie testified.<\/p>\n
Rushdie: Knife came \u2018a millimeter from my brain\u2019<\/p>\n
Rushdie, 79, was composed and straightforward during little more than an hour on the witness stand. He outlined the attack \u2014 which blinded him in the right eye,\u00a0damaged his liver, paralyzed his left hand for a time and briefly put him on a ventilator \u2014 and his lengthy recuperation and enduring injuries.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe knife was a millimeter from my brain,\u201d said Rushdie, whose attacker climbed on stage, approached from behind him and then slashed the author 15 times as the Chautauqua Institution audience gasped. Spectators and another speaker, Henry Reese, scrambled to aid Rushdie and restrain Matar, who was arrested by law enforcement assigned to the event. Rushdie has described the stabbing and recovery previously\u00a0during Matar\u2019s earlier trial, in a memoir and in interviews\u00a0with The Associated Press\u00a0and other outlets.<\/p>\n
As Rushdie testified, Matar, 28, looked down at the defense table, sometimes rested his hand on his chin or turned to speak to his lawyer, looking toward the author only as Rushdie walked out a door. The writer glanced at Matar fleetingly, if at all.<\/p>\n
Defense lawyer asks Rushdie about book\u2019s blowback<\/p>\n
Matar\u2019s defense has argued that prosecutors can\u2019t prove his intent or mindset at the time of the attack \u2014 a key element in their claim that it was an act of terrorism motivated by allegiance to Iran\u2019s government and the Iranian-backed Hezbollah militant group. Matar, currently serving\u00a0a 25-year state prison sentence, faces a potential life sentence if convicted of federal charges that include engaging in an act of transnational terrorism.<\/p>\n
When defense lawyer Nathaniel Barone asked whether Rushdie believed the defendant had ties to terrorism, the author replied: \u201cI had no knowledge, but I had my suspicions.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s late\u00a0Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini\u00a0issued the 1989 fatwa, or religious edict, calling for Rushdie to be killed over \u201cThe Satanic Verses,\u201d which includes a dream sequence about Islam\u2019s\u00a0Prophet Muhammad\u00a0that some Muslims considered blasphemous. The novel sparked often-violent protests against Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim family, and the fatwa drove him into hiding for years. He gradually emerged after the Iranian government distanced itself from the order in 1998, though the fatwa was never officially repealed.<\/p>\n
\u201cFor two decades or more, I led a public life without a hint of trouble,\u201d Rushdie testified Thursday.<\/p>\n
Barone repeatedly asked Rushdie whether he had anticipated blowback from the book.<\/p>\n
\u201cProbably, but I don\u2019t believe the book to be on trial here. I believe someone else is on trial,\u201d Rushdie said. At Barone\u2019s request, the judge struck the comment from the court transcript.<\/p>\n
Matar may testify, lawyer says<\/p>\n
Prosecutors say Matar was animated partly by comments that a former Hezbollah leader, the late Hassan Nasrallah, made about Rushdie and the fatwa in 2006. The U.S.-born Matar also holds citizenship in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based, and Matar\u2019s mother has said a 2018 trip there left him moody and withdrawn.<\/p>\n
Matar started researching Rushdie in 2020 and eventually wrote to himself, \u201cWe need to kill him ASAP,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch said in an opening statement Wednesday. Matar cast the killing as part of what he considered a jihad, or holy war, Lynch said.<\/p>\n
Matar\u2019s New Jersey bedroom and electronics held photos and other material showing his regard for Hezbollah, and he carried a fake driver\u2019s license with a name similar to that of a Hezbollah figure, said Lynch. The U.S. government designates Hezbollah as a terrorist organization.<\/p>\n
Matar\u2019s lawyer has said the government is asking jurors \u201cto connect the dots\u201d in a case without hard evidence about what he was thinking on the date of the attack. In a seeming effort to scrutinize how much the fatwa was on anyone\u2019s mind by Aug. 12, 2022, the defense also has asked some witnesses about the relatively light security around Rushdie that day. A state trooper and a sheriff\u2019s deputy were assigned to the event.<\/p>\n
Matar declined to testify at his state court trial but may do so at the federal trial, Barone said outside court Thursday.<\/p>\n
Rushdie was born in India, raised in Britain and is now a U.S. citizen. He won the Booker Prize in 1981 for his novel \u201cMidnight\u2019s Children.\u201d His most recent work is\u00a0\u201cThe Eleventh Hour,\u201d\u00a0a book of short stories and novellas published last year.<\/p>\n
Iran\u2019s government\u00a0denied involvement\u00a0in the 2022 stabbing, but its Foreign Ministry\u2019s then-spokesperson suggested Rushdie invited trouble by insulting Islam. Hezbollah\u2019s Nasrallah did not comment on the attack.<\/p>\n
___<\/p>\n
Peltz reported from New York.<\/p>\n
#Salman #Rushdie #describes #lake #blood #convicted #attacker #faces #terrorism #charges<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
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