Hadi Matar, accused in 2022 of stabbing author Salman Rushdie—most famous for his novel The Satanic Verses, over which jihadists have persecuted him for decades—while he was giving a talk on literary freedom, began his trial yesterday by declaring his allegiance to the ‘Free Palestine’ cause.
He waited until reporters at the New York courthouse were well within earshot and said the phrase twice.
The court later heard that Matar was “on a mission” when he rushed on stage with a knife, and that Rushdie was attacked from behind so quickly he didn’t know what was happening. Matar was charged with attempted murder and assault and could, if convicted, spend more than 30 years behind bars.
District attorney Jason Schmidt said Matar had come “dangerously close to committing murder” Rushdie, who was stabbed more than a dozen times, left with a paralysed left hand, damaged liver and a blinded right eye. The accused has pleaded not guilty, and his lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, will focus on attempting to convince jurors there was “no intent to murder.”
Barone has also claimed in comments to The Daily Telegraph that Matar, who is of Lebanese descent, cannot receive a fair trial because there are no Muslims in the jury pool.
Do you know, during jury selection, I didn’t have, out of over hundreds of jurors, I didn’t have any Muslims, any one of the Muslim religion, I had no one of Middle Eastern descent in that jury pool. So how is that a fair trial? How is that a trial of Mr. Matar’s peers?
Broadcaster Emma Trimble described the lawyer’s argument as a “fresh dispatch from Clownworld.” Barone almost implies the trial pool would be even more fair if it included supporters of Ruhollah Khomeini’s 1989 fatwa, calling on Muslims to kill Rushdie.
The Indian-born British-American author is expected to provide his own testimony during the trial. Since the attack, he has expressed distress over “the quantity of innocent death” in Gaza, while adding that “I would just like some of the protesters to mention Hamas, because that’s where this started.”
