What to know about the Salman Rushdie stabbing trial

The trial of a man who has stabbed the famous British author Sir Sir Salman Rushdie several times in 2022, leaving him blind in one eye, began in New York on Monday.

Hadi Matar, a 27 -year -old from New Jersey, faces charges of attempted murder and assault. He pleaded not guilty.

The attack, which was captured in video, took place at the Historical Institute of Chautauqua in the northwest of New York, where Mr. Rushdie was to give a conference.

The trial, near Mayville, will be decided by a jury, who will hear several witnesses including Sir Salman himself.

Sir Salman, 77, was to give a conference at the Chautauqua Institute in August 2022, where he was going to discuss how the United States is a refuge for exiled writers.

It was during this conference that a man, who, the prosecutors, alleys is Mr. Matar, ran on the stage and attacked Mr. Rushdie and an interviewer.

Sir Salman was stabbed at least once in the neck and abdomen, the authorities said. He also suffered liver damage.

The interviewer who was with the author, Henry Reese, suffered a minor head injury and was taken to a local hospital. Sir Salman, meanwhile, was transported by plane to an Erie hospital in Pennsylvania, where he underwent surgery and was placed on a fan.

The incident was observed by numerous conference participants. A video published online shows the moment when people rushed on stage immediately after the attack, and the police said that a doctor in the audience had given first aid to Mr. Rushdie.

Police arrested Mr. Matar, who was 24 years old at the time of the incident, shortly after.

For many years, the author had been the target of threats to his life after having published his novel The Satanic Verses in 1988.

The surreal and post-modern novel was inspired by the life of the Muslim prophet Muhammad. He had aroused indignation among some Muslims, who considered that its content was blasphemous and was prohibited in certain countries.

The threats forced Sir Salman to hide for nine years, and he had often traveled with a security detail in fear for his life.

But in recent years, the 77 -year -old said that he thought the threats against him had decreased. Two weeks before the attack, he told a German magazine that he thought his life was “relatively normal”.

Mr. Matar, the suspect in case, is from Fairview, New Jersey. He was born in the United States of parents who had emigrated from Lebanon.

At the time of her arrest, police said they had no reason for the alleged attack.

The suspect then gave a prison interview to the New York Post, where he congratulated Ayatollah Khomein, the Iranian supreme chief, who had published a fatwa – or a decree – calling for the execution of Sir Salman after the release of Satanic verses.

He did not say if his alleged actions had been influenced by the Fatwa.

Mr. Matar told the publication that he had only read a few pages from the novel. He added that he had been inspired to go to Chaattaqua after seeing a tweet announcing that Sir Salman would visit himself.

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

According to a federal court of Chaattaqua, Mr. Matar was charged by a Federal Court to have provided significant support for the Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, according to an unfilled indictment last July.

Hezbollah is appointed a terrorist organization by Western states, Israel, the Arab Gulf countries and the Arab League.

Mr. Matar pleaded not guilty in the County County case. At one point, his legal team tried without success to move the trial in another county, arguing that he risked an unfair trial due to the absence of Arab-American community and advertising around the case Very publicized.

He remains in detention at the County Chautauqua prison. If he is found guilty of both attempted murder and assault, he faces a maximum of 32 years behind bars.

In the Islamic world, many Muslims reacted with fury to the publication of the book and death threats were made against Sir Salman.

He was forced to hide and the British government placed him under the protection of the police. Iran quickly broke his relations with the United Kingdom to protest.

A year after the release of the Satanic verses, Ayatollah Khomeini called for the execution of the author. He offered a reward of $ 3 million (2.4 million pounds sterling) in a fatwa, which is a legal decree issued by an Islamic religious leader.

Dozens of people died in demonstrations against the novel, while others – including the Japanese translator of the book – were killed after the Fatwa.

The premium on Sir Salman’s head remains active, and although the Iranian government has moved away from Khomeini’s decree, an almost official Iranian religious foundation added an additional $ 500,000 to the award in 2012.

After the attack, Iran “categorically” denied any link with the alleged aggressor. Some Iranian media praised the attack and describes Sir Salman as an apostate – someone who abandoned or denied his faith – in their coverage.

Sir Salman spent six weeks in hospital after the attack. He survived, but the injuries caused damage to his liver, a vision lost a eye and a paralyzed hand caused by nerve lesions on the arm.

He has since published a thesis on the attack called Knife.

The author must testify in the trial. He previously declared to the BBC Newshour that he was not sure that he wanted to face his alleged striker in court.

“There is a piece of me that really wants to go and watch it on the ground and look at it and there is another little of me that just can’t be disturbed,” he said.

In his memoirs, the author considered what he would say to his alleged striker.

“I find that I have very little to tell you,” he wrote. “Our lives were touched for a moment and then separated. Mine has improved since that day, while yours has deteriorated. You have made a bad bet and lost.”