Trial begins with a man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdi

The trial of a man who allegedly stabbed famous British and Indian author Salman Rushdy multiple times in 2022 begins Monday in upstate New York, leaving him blind in one eye.

Haddy Matar, 27, from New Jersey, faces accusations of attempted murder and attempted assault. He pleaded not guilty.

The video-shot took place at the historic Chotarouca Institute in northwest New York. There, Mr. Rushdee was scheduled to give a lecture.

The trial in nearby Mayville will be decided by a ju judge. Ju’s judge hears from several witnesses, including Mr. Rushdee himself.

Rushdy, 77, is scheduled to give a lecture at the Chotouka Institute in August 2022, and was about to discuss how the United States is a safe haven for asylum writers.

It was in that lecture that a prosecutor claimed to be Matar ran onto the stage and attacked Rushdee and the interviewer.

Rushdy was stabbed in the neck and abdomen at least once, authorities said. He also maintains his liver damage.

An interviewer with Henry Reese’s Rushdee suffered minor head injuries and was taken to a local hospital. Meanwhile, Rushdy was airlifted to a hospital in Erie, Pennsylvania, where he underwent surgery and put on a ventilator.

This incident was witnessed by many attendees of the lecture. The video posted online shows the moment when people jumped onto the stage shortly after the attack, with police saying the audience doctors gave Rushdee’s first aid.

Police arrested Matar, who was 24 at the time of the incident, soon afterwards.

For many years, Rushdy was a target of threats to his life after publishing his novel “The Devil’s Poem” in 1988.

Surrealist, postmodern novels were inspired by the life of Muslim prophet Muhammad. It sparked anger among some Muslims, and its contents were considered profanity and was banned in some countries.

This threat left Rushdy in hiding for nine years, and he often traveled with security details, fearing his life.

However, in recent years, the 77-year-old author said he believes the threat to him has reduced. Two weeks before the attack, he told a German magazine that he felt his life was “relatively normal.”

Mathal, the suspect in the incident, is from Fairview, New Jersey. He was born in the United States to parents who emigrated from Lebanon.

At the time of his arrest, police said there was no motive for suspected attack.

The suspect later interviewed the New York Post from prison, where he praised Iran’s supreme leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, who called for Rushdi’s execution after Satanic’s poem was released.

He has not said whether his alleged actions were affected by Fatwa.

Mathal told the publication he had only read a few pages of the novel. He added that after seeing a tweet that Rushdi announced he was visiting, he was inspired to go to Chatouka.

“I don’t think he’s a very good person,” Matar said. “He is the one who attacked Islam.”

According to the indictment sealed in July last year, Matar, separate from the Matar County Court charges, was charged by a federal court for providing serious support to Lebanon-based extremist group Hezbollah.

Hezbollah has been designated a terrorist organization by the Western Provinces, Israel, the Gulf Arab States and the Arab Federation.

Mathal pleaded not guilty in the Chatouka County case. At one point, his legal team moved the trial to another county, claiming that the area had put an unfair trial at stake due to lack of Arab-American communities and publicity about a well-known case. I tried to make him do it.

He is in custody at the Chatouka County Jail. If convicted of both attempted murder and attack, he will face up to 32 years after the bar.

In the Muslim world, many Muslims were furious about the publication of the book, and death threats were put on Mr. Rushdi.

He was forced to hide, and the British government put him under police protection. Iran quickly protested and broke ties with the UK.

A year after the release of the Devil’s Poem, Ayatollah Khomeini called for the execution of Mr. Rushdi. He provided a reward of $3 million (£2.4 million) in fatwa. This is a law issued by a religious leader in Islamic religion.

Dozens of people died in protest of the novel, but others, including the Japanese translator of the book, were killed after Fatova.

Rushdi’s head blessing remains active, and Iranian government is keeping its distance from Khomeini’s orders, but in 2012 a paraprofessional Iranian religious foundation added another $500,000 to its rewards. did.

After the attack, Iran denied any association with the alleged perpetrator “categorically.” Some Iranian media praised the attack and described Rushdi in reports of an apostate — someone who abandoned or denied his faith.

Rushdy spent six weeks in the hospital following the attack. He survived, but the injury damaged his liver, causing loss of vision in one eye and a numbing hand caused by nerve damage to his arm.

He has since released a memoir about the attack called the Knife.

The author will testify at trial. He previously told BBC Newshour that he was unsure if he wanted to face his suspicious attacker in court.

“There’s a bit of me that really wants to go and stand on the court and see him, and there’s another thing that I can’t care about,” he said.

In his memoirs, Rushdy considered what he said to the suspected attacker.

“I don’t think I have much to say to you,” he wrote. “Our lives were touched one another for a moment and then separated. Since that day, mine has improved.