Hadi Matar faces charges of attempted murder and assault. The trial of Hadi Matar, the man who attacked Salman Rushdie in 2022, is set to begin, with a tricky jury selection underway. Henry Reese, who was moderating the Chautauqua Institution event, was also injured in the attack. Matar, 27, has pled not guilty to charges of second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault. If convicted, he faces up to 25 years in prison.
![[Salman Rushdie published The Satanic Verses in 1988]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2024/04/10/11/PA-6407182.jpg)
Matar admitted he had not read much of Rushdie’s writing. He had only read “a couple pages” of his controversial work The Satanic Verses. The Iranian government announced in 1998 that it no longer supported the fatwa, allowing Rushdie to lead a more public life. Matar’s trial has been delayed twice, most recently after his attorney Nathaniel Barone argued his client would not get a fair trial in Chautauqua due to the publicity the attack received and the lack of an ethnically diverse community in the area.
![[Hadi Matar, charged with severely injuring author Salman Rushdie in a 2022 knife attack, sits in Chautauqua County court during the first day of jury selection]](https://static.independent.co.uk/2025/02/05/5/05/Hadi-Matar-1khapges.jpeg)
However, given how the screening for jury selection has begun, it appears that selecting the 12 requisite jurors and four alternates could take time, even up to two weeks. Questioning by presiding judge David Foley revealed that almost all of the 27 prospective jurors were aware of the details of the attack from media reports and social media, and several said they had opinions that were not likely to change based on information they would receive during the trial.
Most said they could remain impartial, and all claimed to have no anti-Muslim or anti-Mideast bias, reported The Washington Post. “The thing that can complicate cases, especially this type of case, is when you have an alleged victim with the notoriety Rushdie has,” Barone said in an interview. “It’s not a diverse jury pool in Chautauqua County.”. Five jurors were selected on Tuesday and the selection will continue on Wednesday.
Once jury selection is complete, Rushdie is due to be one of the first witnesses to testify at the trial as is his son Zafar and Reese. “My preference is he would be the very first in the order, the very first day, we get him in and out,” Chautauqua county district attorney Jason Schmidt said, adding that Rushdie had been engaged during witness preparation sessions. “He’s been very cooperative. One way or the other, he’s committed to seeing this through to the end,” he said.
