Salman Rushdie is anticipated to take the stand within the trial of the person accused of trying to kill him at a literary gathering in western New York in August 2022, greater than 35 years after he was first positioned beneath a demise warrant by Iranian non secular leaders.
Rushdie, 77, has agreed to testify for prosecution in opposition to Hadi Matar, 27, the person accused of assaulting him with a knife as he was about to deal with an open-air viewers on a theme of shelter and residential.
The encounter in Choose David Foley’s courtroom will deliver Rushdie and Matar collectively for the primary time since, prosecutors say, Matar dropped a bag containing assorted knives in his left hand as he approached the stage on the Chautauqua Establishment amphitheater, and stabbed the writer greater than a dozen instances with a 10in knife in his proper.
Rushdie and fellow speaker Henry Reese, who can also be named as a sufferer in Matar’s indictment, have been so surprised that they initially remained seated, prosecutors say.
Matar, a twin US-Lebanese citizen, is accused of tried homicide and assault. He has pleaded not responsible. In opening statements, jurors heard from prosecutors that Matar “virtually succeeded in killing Mr Rushdie”.
“With out hesitation, this man, holding his knife … forcefully and effectively in its pace, plunged the knife into Mr Rushdie again and again and time and again,” prosecutor Jason Schmidt stated.
Matar’s protection workforce requested for a delay within the trial after Matar’s lead public lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, was taken sick. Assistant public defender Lynn Schaffer advised jurors that prosecutors could be unable to show Matar’s guilt, even utilizing video recordings and images.
“The weather of the crime are greater than ‘one thing actually unhealthy occurred’ – they’re extra outlined,” Shaffer stated. “One thing unhealthy did occur, one thing very unhealthy did occur, however the district lawyer has to show far more than that.”
A sequence of witness have been referred to as by prosecutors trying to place Matar on the crime scene. Chautauqua worker Jordan Steves stated he noticed a “violent interplay with somebody swinging their arms at an onstage visitor … ”
Absent to the case thus far is any reference to the fatwa that referred to as for Rushdie’s demise that was Matar’s motivation, based on an interview he gave after his arrest. Prosecutors say they’ll safe a conviction irrespective of it.
Matar is about to be tried on federal terrorism fees, the place the problem of motivation will probably be laborious to exclude. The costs allege Matar was motivated by an endorsement of the fatwa by Iran-backed group Hezbollah. On Monday, Matar stated “Free Palestine” as he entered the courtroom.
A later trial on the federal fees – terrorism transcending nationwide boundaries, offering materials assist to terrorists and trying to offer materials assist to a terrorist group – will probably be scheduled in US district courtroom in Buffalo.
Rushdie’s anticipated testimony is more likely to deal with his direct expertise of the alleged assault. However in an account revealed final yr, Knife: Meditations After an Tried Homicide, he recounted how he had a premonition in a dream of of being attacked in an amphitheater.
The trial will last as long as two weeks, the attorneys stated.
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