Hadi Matar, who is accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie on stage in Chautauqua, New York, last year, is scheduled to stand trial in January, CNN reports.
Rushdie is expected to testify in Matar’s trial on second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault charges. If convicted, Matar could be sentenced to up to 25 years on the attempted murder charge and seven years on the assault charge.
Rushdie, the author of novels including Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses, was attacked on stage at the Chautauqua Institution on Aug. 12, 2022, as he was about to give a lecture. He suffered several stab wounds that cost him vision in one eye and the use of one hand. Henry Reese, the event’s moderator, was also injured in the attack.
Police immediately arrested Matar, who later said he was “surprised” that Rushdie survived the attack. Matar offered praise for the late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, the Iranian leader who in 1989 issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death because he found The Satanic Verses to be “blasphemous against Islam.”
Matar also said of Rushdie, “I don’t like him. I don’t like him very much. He’s someone who attacked Islam, he attacked their beliefs, the belief systems.”
Matar has pleaded not guilty to the charges. His attorney, Nathaniel Barone, said, “The one thing I’ve stressed throughout this is, everyone is entitled to their day in court, and there’s the presumption of innocence that’s the most important constitutional right that we can have, any one of us.”
Earlier this month, Penguin Random House announced that it will publish Rushdie’s memoir about the attack, Knife, on April 16, 2024.
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
