Salman Rushdie: "There was a lake of my blood, it was clear to me that I was dying"

BarcelonaEmotional and impressive testimony by Nobel Prize winner for literature Salman Rushdie. On the second day of the trial in New York State against Hadi Matar, 27, the man accused of of trying to assassinate him in August 2022, The writer said on Tuesday, in very graphic terms, that he experienced a great shock when he fell to the ground, as a result of the attack and the multiple stab wounds he received – up to a dozen. He recalled that he realized that there was “a lake of blood [around him, on the stage where he was], which was clearly my own blood. I was bleeding profusely, and it was clear to me that I was dying.”

This was the first time that Rushdie had come face to face with his attacker. As he testified, they were no more than four meters away from each other in the Mayville courtroom, where the hearing is being held. The events took place in the seconds before the start of a talk scheduled within the cultural events of the Chautauqua Institution, in the county of the same name, in New York, which was to be dedicated to finding ways to help persecuted writers.

Returning to the description of the attack, the author of novels such as Midnight's Children either The Satanic Verses He said he did not realise it "until the last moment". By his own account, he felt the pain "immediately, especially in the eye". "It was the most painful knife," he added. Rushdie, 77, who usually wears glasses with his right eye blacked out so that the after-effects of the attack cannot be seen, removed them in the courtroom to show the jury the nature of his injuries. "As you can see, there is nothing left [of the eye]. I have no vision in that eye," he said.

The attempted murder of Salman Rushdie took place 35 years after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa against him in 1989, sentencing him to death, for publishingThe Satanic Verses, a fictionalized account of the life of the Prophet Muhammad. Iran's supreme leader considered the work offensive to Islam and since its publication in October 1988, copies have been burned throughout the Islamic world.

Following Ayatollah Khomeini's fatwa, Rushdie lived under police protection, both in the United Kingdom and the United States. In addition, for more than twenty years he was always heavily escorted at the few public events in which he participated. But little by little, from 2010 onwards, he relaxed his security measures, to the point that in 2017 he was only accompanied by his agent, claiming that he wanted to live a "relatively normal life".

25 years in prison if found guilty

The accused Rushdie attacker, who was born in New Jersey but was Lebanese, has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault. The defence wants to cast doubt on the intent of the attacker among the 12 jurors. At the same time, it has also questioned the neutrality of the police in charge of the case. It accuses the officers of bias against Matar. However, the trial does not seem to be very complex, as there are many witnesses, and also recordings, of the attempted murder. In addition, Hadi Matar was arrested at the same scene where he carried out the attack. The accused could spend a minimum of 25 years in prison if the jury reaches a guilty verdict.

Hadi Matar has a second pending trial, a federal case involving terrorism charges, in which he is accused of providing material support and resources to Hezbollah since September 2020 to attempt to carry out the fatwa that was issued in 1989. The trial is awaiting sentencing.