In a New York courtroom, Salman Rushdie gave his testimony against Hadi Matar, who is charged with stabbing him in 2022. Rushdie vividly described the harrowing attack, revealing the extent of his injuries and the fear he felt for his life. He detailed his struggle to breathe, his lost vision, and the pain he endured.
This story is developing, more to follow. Outspoken author Salman Rushdie today revealed the first words he spoke after he was taken off a ventilator following a near-fatal knife attack , as he took the stand in a New York courtroom to testify against the man charged with stabbing him. Hadi Matar , 27, is charged with attempted murder and assault for attacking Rushdie as he was preparing to give a speech in August 2022, stabbing him more than a dozen times. Matar has pleaded not guilty.
The 77-year-old author was blinded in one eye in the attack and spent months recovering, a process he detailed in a memoir released last year. A speaker who was to appear with Rushdie also was wounded. The Satanic Verses author told the court he was put on a ventilator at a Pennsylvania hospital that he was flown to for 24 hours to stabilize him. He revealed his first words after he was taken off the medical equipment were: 'I could speak.' Sir Salman also revealed his sewn-up eye to the jurors, telling them: 'You can see that's what's left of it, there's no vision in the eye at all.' He told the court that he initially did not realize he had been stabbed, but quickly realized blood was 'pouring onto my clothes'. Matar, he said 'initially hit me very hard… around here on the lower part of my face my jawline and my neck.' 'Initially I thought he'd punched me... I thought he was hitting me with his fist.' Salman Rushdie (pictured in 2023) was blinded in one eye in the attack and spent months recovering Hadi Matar (pictured, centre) is charged with attempted murder and assault for attacking Rushdie as he was preparing to give a speech in August 2022 Sir Salman said he remembers a 'large quantity of blood pouring out onto my clothes' while 'he was hitting me repeatedly.. Stabbing and slashing'. 'Everything happened very quickly so I'm not certain of the exact sequence of events,' he added. He admitted that he believed he was dying after the near-fatal attack. 'It occurred to me quite clearly that I was dying, that was my predominant thought. 'I was lying on the ground in pain… I was aware of a small pile of people to my right essentially subduing the attacker and thanks that I guess I survived.' As he lay on the ground, he said he remembered There was a voice that called out asking for a pair of scissors to cut my clothes off me to see where the injuries were and where the blood was coming from.' 'At some point I put up my left hand to try and protect myself and stuck the knife in that,' Sir Salman added. The knife 'severed all of the tendons of the hand', he said, adding: 'The hand is not really fully repaired yet.' The author then talked through the other injuries he suffered, pointing to a 'scar visible on the left hand side here, slash wound here' as he ran his fingers from the left hand side of his mouth. After the attack, he was flown via helicopter to a trauma unit at a Pennsylvania hospital, where he was put on a ventilator for 24 hours, which he said was necessary as it 'was not clear that I could breathe without it.' Once in the hospital, he said he realized he had suffered such a bad cut to his face that 'it had to be held together by metal staples.' Author Salman Rushdie is tended to after he was attacked during a lecture, Aug. 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York In this still image from video, author Salman Rushdie is taken on a stretcher to a helicopter for transport to a hospital after he was attacked during a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, N.Y., Friday, Aug. 12, 2022 British-American writer of Indian origin, 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, 31 January 2025 This still image from video shows Hadi Matar, 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., Aug. 12, 2022 Read More 'I remember thinking, this is the end': Salman Rushdie reveals how knifeman left him lying in a 'lake' of his own blood in New York book fair stabbing He added that he was unable to sit up as he 'also had lost an enormous amount of blood that left me extremely weak.' Rushdie's eye 'was initially very badly swollen… that the eyelid couldn't close, so it had to be constantly moisturised', he said. Doctors at the Pennsylvania hospital he was being treated at decided that it was only when the the swelling round his eye had died that he could undergo surgery. 'I had this, again, quite painful operation to have my eyelid stitched up which I don’t recommend', he wryly added. The elderly writer admitted that he had still not fully recovered from the attack, putting himself at 75 or 80 percent
Salman Rushdie Hadi Matar Knife Attack Chautauqua Institution Attempted Murder Assault Trial Testimony Injuries Recovery
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