Salman Rushdie stabbing trial delayed over upcoming book
The trial in the United States of the individual accused of stabbing writer Sir Salman Rushdie in 2022 has been postponed. Hadi Matar, the defendant’s attorneys, argued that they have the right to review Mr.
Rushdie’s upcoming book is a memoir detailing the attack. Jury selection, initially scheduled for January 8 in upstate New York, was delayed as the defense believes the book could serve as evidence.
The prosecution alleges that Matar, a 26-year-old resident of New Jersey, rushed to a stage where Rushdie was standing, stabbing the author over a dozen times in August 2022, resulting in injuries to Rushdie’s hands and blindness in one eye.
Matar has been held without bail since the incident.
Rushdie is set to publish a memoir titled “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder” about the attack.
Although the book was announced in October, Matar’s defense successfully petitioned Judge David Foley to postpone the trial just before it was scheduled to begin, citing the need for materials related to the memoir.
Matar’s lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, is expected to subpoena the manuscript.
Despite the frustration expressed by Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt over the delay, he assured the public that it would not alter the outcome.
Salman Rushdie, a renowned writer, had previously faced threats and spent several years in hiding following the 1988 publication of “The Satanic Verses,” a fictional work inspired by the life of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.
Penguin Random House, Rushdie’s publisher, and a representative for the author did not respond to requests for comment.
In June, Mr Rushdie told BBC Newshour he was unsure if he wanted to face his alleged attacker in court.
“I’m in two minds about it,” he said. “There’s one bit of me that wants to go and stand on the court and look at him and there’s another bit of me that just can’t be bothered.”
Mr. Rushdie said he did not have “a very high opinion” of his attacker, but that he was “more engaged with the business of, you know, getting on with it” and his “life continuing”.
