Salman Rushdie Will Testify at Trial of Man Accused of Stabbing Him

Hadi Matar is charged with attempted murder and assault in connection with an attack in western New York that left the author blind in one eye.

The author Salman Rushdie, who was stabbed and blinded in one eye two years ago by an attacker who rushed him onstage in front of hundreds of people, will testify at the man’s trial, prosecutors said on Friday.

The assailant, Hadi Matar, is charged with second-degree attempted murder and assault with a weapon in connection with the August 2022 attack, in Chautauqua County, in western New York. Prosecutors say the attack, during which Mr. Rushdie was stabbed about 10 times, was premeditated. Mr. Matar has pleaded not guilty.

The trial, which could last up to seven weeks, had been scheduled to begin on Tuesday. But on Friday, a state appeals court judge granted a defense request to delay the trial while the court considers a separate defense motion to move it out of Chautauqua County.

Nathaniel Barone, a public defender who is representing Mr. Matar, said it was important that the proceedings be moved “to preserve my client’s right to a fair trial,” which, he added, was impossible in Chautauqua County because of the publicity surrounding the case and the lack of a local Arab American community.

Mr. Rushdie, who spent years in hiding after Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran ordered Muslims to kill the author following the 1988 publication of his novel “The Satanic Verses,” will most likely testify during the first two days of the prosecution’s case, officials said on Friday. He is one of about 15 witnesses who are expected to testify, officials said.

Mr. Matar also faces federal terrorism charges, including providing “material support and resources” to Hezbollah, an Iran-backed militia in Lebanon. He and his family moved from Lebanon to the United States when he was a child. He was living in New Jersey and working at a clothing store at the time of the attack.

Prosecutors said on Friday that Mr. Matar had declined to resolve the federal and state charges with a single plea agreement. Jason Schmidt, the Chautauqua County district attorney, said he was seeking to convict Mr. Matar on the top charge, second-degree attempted murder, which carries a potential sentence of 25 years to life.

When the attack occurred, Mr. Rushdie was on the stage in a 4,000-seat amphitheater at the Chautauqua Institution, a summertime destination for literary and arts programming, for a talk about how the United States had been a safe haven for exiled writers. Mr. Matar rushed the stage and stabbed the author in his neck and abdomen.

The attack, which shook the literary world, happened in front of a large audience. Linda Abrams, who was in the front row, said it took about a half-dozen people to pull Mr. Matar off Mr. Rushdie.

Mr. Rushdie, who was 75 at the time, was taken by helicopter to a hospital, where he underwent hours of surgery and was put on a ventilator, his agent, Andrew Wylie, said at the time.

Mr. Rushdie had lingering injuries as a result of the attack, including losing the sight in his right eye. When he made a surprise appearance at the PEN America literary gala last year, his voice was weak and he was noticeably thinner.

This year, he published a memoir, “Knife,” that detailed the attack and its aftermath.

“It was a very personal story for Mr. Rushdie, one that he felt the need to write about,” Mr. Schmidt said on Friday.