Pronounced author Salman Rushdie today revealed the first words he spoke after he had been taken from a fan after an almost fatal knife attack, while taking the position in a courtroom in New York to testify against the man accused of stitching of him .
Hadi Matar, 27, is accused of attempted murder and mistreatment for the attacking of Rushdie while he prepared to give a speech in August 2022, as a result of which he put more than a dozen times. Matar has not guilty.
The 77-year-old author was blinded at one eye in the attack and brought for months, a process he had detailed in a memoirs released last year. A speaker who would appear with Rushdie was also injured.
The author of the satanic verses told the court that he was put on a fan in a hospital in Pennsylvania that he was flown to for 24 hours to stabilize him.
He revealed his first words after he had been removed from the medical equipment were, “I could speak.”
Sir Salman also revealed his sewn eye to the jury members and told them: “You can see that that is what is left, there is no vision at all.”
He told the court that he initially did not realize that he had been stabbed, but quickly realized that blood 'flowed on my clothes'. Matar, he said “initially hit me very hard … here on the lower part of my face my jaw line and my neck.”
“Initially I thought he had beaten me … I thought he hit me with his fist.”
Salman Rushdie (depicted in 2023) was blinded at one eye and brought for months to recover
Hadi Matar (photo, center) is accused of attempted murder and abuse for attacking Rushdie while he prepared to give a speech in August 2022
Sir Salman said that he remembers a 'large amount of blood flowing on my clothes' while repeatedly hit me … Stabbing and Slashing'.
“Everything happened very quickly, so I'm not sure about the exact order of events,” he added.
He admitted that he believed he died after the almost fatal attack.
'It was very clear to me that I died, that was my dominant thought.
“I was on the floor of the pain … I was aware of a small stack of people to my right, essentially the attacker subjects and thank you for thinking I survived.”
While he was lying on the ground, he said he remembered that there was a voice and asked for scissors to cut my clothes away from me to see where the injuries were and where the blood came from. '
'At a certain point I put my left hand on to try to protect myself and [Matar] Put the knife in it, “Sir Salman added.
The knife “broke all the tendons,” he said, adding: “The hand has not really been completely repaired yet.”
The author then spoke because of the other injuries he sustained, pointing to a 'scar visible on the left here, shifted the wound here while he dropped his fingers from the left side of his mouth.
After the attack, he flowed via a helicopter to a trauma unit in a hospital in Pennsylvania, where he was put on a fan for 24 hours, which he said was necessary because it was not clear that I could breathe without. '
Once in the hospital he said he realized that he had suffered such a bad cut in his face that “it had to be held together by metal staples.”
Author Salman Rushdie is provided after he was attacked during a lecture, August 12, 2022, in the Chautauqua institution in Chautauqua, New York
In this stationary image of Video, author Salman Rushdie is brought a stretcher to a helicopter for transport to a hospital after being attacked during a lecture in the Chautauqua institution in Chautauqua, NY, Friday 12 August 2022
British-American writer of Indian descent, Salman Rushdie (L), and Colombian writer, Juan Gabriel Vasquez, participate in a conversation during the second day of the 20th edition of the Hay Festival in Cartagena, Colombia, January 31, 2025
This stationary image of video shows Hadi Matar, from FairView, NJ, Left, of the stage escorted while people tend to author Salman Rushdie, Midden, in the Chautauqua institution in Chautauqua, NY, 12 August 2022
He added that he was unable to sit up straight because he “also lost a huge amount of blood that had extremely weak.”
Rushdie's eye 'was initially very poorly swollen … that the eyelid could not close, so it had to be constantly hydrated, “he said.
Doctors in the Pennsylvania Hospital he was treated, decided that it was only when the swelling had died around his eye that he could undergo surgery.
“I had this again a pretty painful operation to have my eyelid attached that I didn't recommend,” he added wry -like.
The older writer admitted that he had still not fully recovered from the attack and had set himself at 75 or 80 percent.
He said that he was not as 'energetic' or 'strong' as before, and still did not have the full use of his left hand.
Rushdie said that while he can move it, he only feels in his thumb and forefinger.
Henry Reece, co-founder of City of Asylum, a non-profit organization that helps writers banned from their country for their controversial writing, was also attacked when he presented the event with Rushdie. He suffered a significant sniffing over his eye.
Matar has been in custody since he was subjected by spectators after the attack. He has not guilty of attempted murder and abuse.
The test is expected to take a maximum of two weeks. Jury members are expected to receive video and photos from the day of the attack.
However, they are unlikely to hear about a fatwa published by the deceased Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini who calls for the death of Rushdie, according to public prosecutor Jason Schmidt.
Rushdie published a book about his life after his attempted murder entitled 'Knife'
Rushdie depicted with his wife Rachel Eliza Griffiths (depicted, left)
Salman Rushdie and Alan Yentob go to the Charles Finch & Chanel Pre-Bafta Party on 5 Hertford Street on March 12, 2022 in London, England
Rushdie, the author of 'Midnight's Children' and 'Victory City', brought hidden for years after Khomeini announced the Fatwa in 1989 after publication of the novel 'The Satanic Verses', which some Muslims regard as blasphemy
Schmidt has said that discussing Matar's motive will be unnecessary in the state process, given the attack was seen by the live audience that was present to hear Rushdie speak.
“This is not a case of a wrong identity,” Schmidt said during his opening statements on Monday. 'Mr. Matar is the person who Mr. Rushdie has attacked without provocation. '
However, a public defender who represents Matar told jury members that the case is not as easy as public prosecutors have made.
“The elements of crime are more than” something very bad happened ” – they are more defined,” said Lynn Schaffer. “Something bad happened, something very bad happened, but the public prosecutor has to prove much more than that.”
In a separate indictment, federal authorities claim that Matar was driven to act by the approval of the Fatwa of a terrorist organization from 2006. A later trial against federal terrorist charges will be planned in the American court in Buffalo.
More to follow.
