The highly anticipated trial of Hadi Matar, charged with attempting to murder author Salman Rushdie, begins on Tuesday in Chautauqua County, New York. Matar was apprehended after storming the stage at a literary event in August 2022 and stabbing Rushdie multiple times, leaving him with serious injuries.
The trial of Hadi Matar, the man accused of attempting to murder author Salman Rushdie, is scheduled to commence on Tuesday with jury selection. The incident occurred in August 2022 at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, where Matar, 26, can be seen in cellphone videos rushing the stage as Rushdie, 77, was being introduced to the audience. Rushdie sustained multiple stab wounds, resulting in the loss of his right eye and liver damage.
Matar has pleaded not guilty to charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault. Rushdie, who has been living under death threats since the 1988 publication of his novel 'The Satanic Verses,' is expected to be among the first witnesses to testify at the trial. In his memoir about the attack, Rushdie revealed that he believed he was going to die on stage at the Chautauqua Institution. Rushdie, raised in a Muslim Kashmiri family, was forced into hiding under the protection of British police in 1989 after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, then Iran's supreme leader, declared 'The Satanic Verses' blasphemous. Khomeini's fatwa, a religious edict, called for the killing of Rushdie and everyone involved in the book's publication, resulting in a multi-million-dollar bounty. While the Iranian government stated in 1998 that it would no longer support the fatwa, Rushdie emerged from his years of seclusion, becoming a prominent figure in New York City's literary circles. Following the attack, Matar told the New York Post that he traveled from his home in New Jersey after seeing an advertisement for the Rushdie event because he disliked the author, claiming Rushdie had attacked Islam. Matar, a dual citizen of the U.S. and Lebanon, expressed surprise at Rushdie's survival in the same interview. Matar's trial has faced two delays, most recently due to his defense lawyer's unsuccessful attempt to change the venue, arguing that Matar couldn't receive a fair trial in Chautauqua. The trial is being held at the Chautauqua County Court in Mayfield, a town of approximately 1,500 people near the Canadian border. If convicted of attempted murder, Matar faces a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison. Additionally, Matar is facing federal charges. U.S. attorney's office prosecutors in western New York have accused him of attempting to murder Rushdie as an act of terrorism and providing material support to the armed group Hezbollah in Lebanon, designated as a terrorist organization by the U.S.
SALMAN RUSHDIE HADI MATAR TRIAL ATTEMPTED MURDER CHAUTAUQUA INSTITUTION FATWA THE SATANIC VERSES ISLAM TERRORISM HEZBOLLAH
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