The fatwa authorities believe motivated a New Jersey man to violently attack author Salman Rushdie in 2022, leaving him blind in one eye, is not expected to be a factor in his upcoming trial in western New York.
“We’re not going there,” Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Friday.
He explained that jurors tasked with determining the fate of attacker Hadi Matar do not need to understand his motivation because the assault was witnessed and recorded by a live audience at the Chautauqua Institution, near Lake Erie.
This still image from video shows Hadi Matar, 24, of Fairview, N.J., at left, being escorted from the stage as people tend to author Salman Rushdie, center right, at the Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua, N.Y., Friday, Aug. 12, 2022.
Rushdie was about to give a lecture there on the morning of Aug. 12, 2022, when 26-year-old Matar rushed the stage and stabbed him more than a dozen times, police said. He was quickly detained by New York State troopers working the event and subsequently charged with second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault in connection with the stabbing.
Matar, a resident of Fairview, N.J. who holds dual citizenship in Lebanon, has also since been charged in a separate federal indictment with an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization and providing material support to terrorists.
The counts stem from allegations that Matar was trying to fulfill a fatwa, or a religious decree calling for his Rushdie’s death.
The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued the directive in 1989, after Rushdie published “The Satanic Verses.” He said the book, one of Rushdie’s most popular works, was blasphemous and declared it an insult to Islam and Prophet Mohammed.
The fatwa was enough to send the renowned author into hiding, where he remained for years before he finally reemerged in the late 1990s.
In wake of the attack, Rushdie underwent a series of surgeries and was placed on a ventilator. He has since released a memoir detailing the incident titled “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.”
He’s also expected to testify in Matar’s trial, which is slated to begin with jury selection on Oct. 15 at Chautauqua County Court.
While jurors won’t have to contend with Matar’s motive, attorneys say they will face questions meant to root out implicit bias during the selection process.
Defense attorney Nathaniel Barone on Friday sought assurances that jurors in the state trial would be properly vetted, citing Matar’s Lebanese roots and the fact that he practices Islam.
“We’re concerned there may be prejudicial feelings in the community,” Barone said.