The planned trial of Hadi Matar, the man accused of stabbing Salman Rushdie, could be delayed until Matar has the chance to read Rushdie’s memoir about the attack, the Associated Press reports.
Matar faces second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault charges in connection with the attack on Rushdie onstage at the Chautauqua Institution in New York state on Aug. 12, 2022. Rushdie was stabbed multiple times, losing vision in one eye and the use of one hand as a result.
Matar is pleading not guilty to the charges. Days after his arrest, he told the New York Post that he was “surprised” Rushdie, author of the novels Midnight’s Children and The Satanic Verses, survived the attack.
Matar’s trial had been set for this month, but the judge in the case, David Foley, said Matar could ask for a delay until he gets a chance to read the manuscript for Rushdie’s memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, which Random House is slated to publish on April 16.
The Guardian reports that Matar’s attorney, Nathaniel Barone, is in favor of a delay and wants to see additional materials related to the memoir. “It’s not just the book,” Barone said. “Every little note Rushdie wrote down, I get, I’m entitled to. Every discussion, every recording, anything he did in regard to this book.”
Michael Schaub is a contributing writer.
