Salman Rushdie testifies he thought he was dying after stabbing

Sir Salman Rushdie told the court that he believed that he was dying after he was stabbed repeatedly on the stage two years ago, leaving him blind in one eye.

The famous British Indian author presented evidence in the trial of the alleged striker, Hadi Mattar, 27, who admitted that he was not guilty of assault and attempted murder.

The procedures are taking place in the New York State Court, a few miles away from where Sir Salman was attacked on August 12, 2022, where he was about to have a conversation about how the United States was a haven for exiled writers.

The attack took place after Sir Salman spent years in hiding due to threats to his life after publishing his novel The Satanic Ayat in 1988.

Warning: This story contains sad details

The general prosecutors, who did not specify a motive for stabbing, called on Salman to the podium as the first witness on Tuesday morning, asking him to remember the moments before and after the attack.

The 77 -year -old told the jury that on the day in question, he was sitting on the stage ready to address an audience at the prestigious Chauteauqua Foundation.

Soon after the definition of Sir Salman, he said he had noticed a person who was rushing to him on his right side.

He described the attacker as wearing dark clothes and a face mask, and said he was shocked by the eyes of the individual, “which was dark and seemed very fierce.”

Sir Salman said that he felt the first blow to his right joke and neck, and he initially believed that he had suffered a punch. Then he saw the blood flowing on his clothes.

The author said: “At that stage, he was hitting me again and again, challenging and transporting,” adding that the accident was revealed within seconds.

Sir Salman told the court that he had a total of 15 times, with wounds in his eye, cheek, neck, chest, trunk and thigh.

His left hand was also stabbed when he tried to defend himself.

He said that the wound knife was the most painful.

At some point, he took off his glasses, which hid his right eye with a dark lens, to detect the extent of injury.

“As you can see, this is what remains of it,” the jury said. “There is no vision in the eye at all.”

While Sir Salman, who was wearing a dark suit, handed over his testimony, Mr. Mattar was often his head down, and the two never appeared in the eye’s connection.

Sir Salman’s wife, Mrs. Rushdie, shouted from her second -class seat while her husband narrated the accident.

He was concerned about his safety since the publication of the demonic verses, his surrealist narration, post -modernity that was inspired by the life of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad.

While he met praise and prizes in the Western world, many Muslims considered it rowing and banned some countries. The Iranian religious leader, Fatwa calling for the author’s death due to the book.

If you missed – a religious decree – to face Sir Salman, the threats of countless death. I was forced to hide for nine years and only began to travel again when Iran said it would not impose the law.

Two weeks before the attack, the author told a German magazine that he was living a “relatively normal” life as threats shrunk.

But the attack on Sir Salman in Chutawukua, New York broke this sense of safety.

The writer told the court on Tuesday that in moments later, “It happened to me very clearly that I was dying – that was my prevailing thinking.”

He also described the feeling that he was lying in a “lake of blood.”

And remember how passers -by, including the members of the audience, subjected the attacker.

“By this, I survived,” Sir Salman said.

The author told the jury that he was transferred to a shock center, where he received a 17 -day treatment.

Mr. Mattar was arrested at the scene.

The lawyer of the suspect, Lyn Shafir, Sir Salman, was interrogated, and asked him whether he could trust his remembrance of the events given the shock he was exposed to.

The author replied that the shock could change people’s memory, but added that he was sure he was 15 times injured.

“Then I was able to see [the wounds] On my body, he said: “I didn’t need anyone to tell me.”

When asked if he had any contact with the suspect before the attack, Sir Salman replied that he did not. He also said that the attacker did not say anything to him.

More witnesses are expected to be called to the situation in the coming days, including the surgeon who is working on Sir Salman, as well as law enforcement officers who responded to the attack.