Salman Rushdie testimony describes attack in graphic detail

Acclaimed novelist Salman Rushdie took the stand in the attempted murder trial of the man charged with stabbing him repeatedly at a literary gathering in August 2022.

Rushdie wore a dark suit, white shirt and grey tie, together with tinted glasses masking his eye injured in the attack.

What did Rushdie say?

He told jurors that he only saw the man "at the last minute" as he described the frenzied knife attack that left him partially blind in one eye and with permanent damage to one hand.

"I was aware of someone wearing black clothes, or dark clothes and a black face mask. I was very struck by his eyes, which were dark and seemed very ferocious to me," Rushdie told jurors.

"He hit me very hard," Rushdie said.

"Initially, I thought he had punched me. I thought he was hitting me with his fist. But very soon afterwards I saw really quite a very large quantity of blood pouring out onto my clothes, and by that time he was hitting me repeatedly; stabbing, slashing."

At one point during his testimony, Rushdie told jurors they could see for themselves what's "left of his" right eye.

He removed his glasses and turned to the jury, saying: "There's no vision in the eye at all." 

Rushdie was too shaken to fight back, says prosecutor

The accused attacker, Hadi M. has been charged with second-degree attempted murder and second-degree assault for stabbing. He has pleaded not guilty.

A prosecutor said during opening statements delivered Monday that Hadi M. had "forcefully and efficiently and with speed plunged the knife into Mr Rushdie over and over and over again."

District Attorney Jason Schmidt told jurors on the opening day of the trial that the attack was swift and sudden.

He said the attacker bounded up a staircase to the stage and ran about 30 feet toward Rushdie.

Hadi M. came "dangerously close" to killing Rushdie, Schmidt said, adding that the author was stabbed through the right eye with force that severed the optical nerve.

Editor's note: DW follows the German press code, which stresses the importance of protecting the privacy of suspected criminals or victims and obliges us to refrain from revealing full names in such cases.

Edited by: Wesley Rahn