The trial of Hadi M, who stabbed novelist Salman Rushdie on stage in New York in 2022, began Monday at a county court. The 24-year-old attacker has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault for the attack that left Rushdie partially blind in one eye.
Rushdie, 77, will face his assailant for the first time in over two years during the trial, which is expected to last around a week to 10 days. The attack took place before a crowd of thousands at a literary conference, where Rushdie was set to speak about keeping writers safe from harm.
Rushdie had spent years in hiding following a fatwa, or call to death, issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 due to his book “The Satanic Verses”. The author gradually returned to public life before the attack. Rushdie has written about the experience in a memoir, and a separate federal indictment charges Hadi M with terrorism.
A jury was selected last week, and the assailant attended court throughout the process, taking notes and consulting with his attorneys.
Source: https://www.dw.com/en/salman-rushdie-attempted-murder-trial-begins/a-71561231