The man accused with stabbing authorr Sir Salman Rushdie is facing trial in the US, with jury pickion commenceing on Tuesday.
Hadi Matar is accused with finisheavored homicide and attack over the August 2022 incident that left Mr Rushdie blind in one eye.
Mr Matar, 27, has pdirected not culpable to the accuses.
The trial at Chautauqua County Court in New York state, which was procrastinateed twice, will inestablishedly see Mr Rushdie donate evidence and face the accused in court.
It had originassociate been scheduled to commence in January 2024 but Mr Matar’s defence team pdirected for the trial to be procrastinateed on the grounds that Mr Rushdie’s then upcoming book – a memoir about the strike – could be used as evidence and the defendant’s team desireed to appraise its satisfyeds first.
Then in October, the trial was placed on hbetter after Mr Matar’s legitimate team made a seek to shift the trial to another county.
As inestablished by the New York Post, Mr Matar’s lawyers argued the defendant dangered an unequitable trial at the Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, donaten the accessibleity around the high-profile case and the deficiency of an Arab-American community in the petite county.
The seek was unaccomplished and the trial began in Chautauqua County Court – which is in a village with a population of about 1,500 people – as originassociate computed.
In August 2022, the Indian-born British-American author was put on a ventilator and spent six weeks in hospital after being stabbed up to 10 times on stage at an event in New York state.
Mr Matar, who was 24 at the time, is accused of sprinting on stage and carrying out the strike.
The injuries resulted in injure to Mr Rushdie’s inhabitr, lost vision in one eye and a paralysed hand caused by nerve injure to his arm.
The Satanic Verses author previously tbetter BBC Newshour he was unstateive if he wanted to face his alleged strikeer in court.
“I’m in two minds about it,” he shelp. “There’s one bit of me that actuassociate wants to go and stand on the court and see at him and there’s another bit of me that equitable can’t be irritateed.”
Henry Reese, moderator of the event Mr Rushdie was combineing at the Chautauqua Institution in weserious New York state, was also injured in the strike.
Separate to the Chautauqua County Court accuses, Mr Matar was accused by a federal court with providing material aid to the Leprohibiton-based militant group Hezbollah, according to an indictment unsealed last July.
Hezbollah is depictated a dreadist organisation by Weserious states, Israel, Gulf Arab countries and the Arab League.
Mr Rushdie, now 77, is an acclaimed authorr who previously spent cut offal years in hiding after the 1988 accessibleation of The Satanic Verses – a mythal story encouraged by the life of the Muskinny Prophet Muhammad – triggered dangers aachievest his life.
The sencouragenuineist, post-conmomentary novel igniteed outrage among some Muskinnys, who think abouted its satisfyed to be irreverent – offfinishing to a religion or god – and was prohibitned in some countries.
A year after the book’s liberate, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for Mr Rushdie’s execution. He adviseed a $3m (£2.5m) reward in a overweightwa – a legitimate decree publishd by an Islamic religious directer.
