Salman Rushdie stabbing trial delayed over upcoming book

The US trial of the man charged with stabbing writer Sir Salman Rushdie in 2022 has been delayed.

Attorneys for Hadi Matar, the defendant, argued they are entitled to review Mr Rushdie’s upcoming book.

Jury selection was set to begin on 8 January in upstate New York, but the defence said the book – a memoir about the attack – could be evidence.

The attack damaged Mr Rushdie’s hands, and The Satanic Verses author was blinded in one eye.

Prosecutors have accused Mr Matar, a 26-year-old New Jersey resident, of rushing a stage Mr Rushdie was standing on and stabbing the author over a dozen times in August 2022.

Mr Matar has been held without bail since the incident.

Mr Rushdie is set to release a memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, about the attack.

The book was announced last October, but Mr Matar’s defence team successfully petitioned Judge David Foley to postpone the trial shortly before it was set to begin. They said they were seeking material related to the book.

His lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, is expected to subpoena the manuscript, the AP reported.

Penguin Random House, Mr Rushdie’s publisher, and a representative for the author did not respond to requests for comment.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt expressed frustration at they delay. He said, however, that he could “assure the public it will not change the ultimate outcome”.

Mr Rushdie, an acclaimed writer, previously spent several years in hiding after the 1988 publication of The Satanic Verses – a fictional story inspired by the life of the Muslim Prophet Muhammad – triggered threats against his life.

In June, Mr Rushdie said that he was unsure if he wanted to face his alleged attacker in court.

“I’m in two minds about it,” he said. “There’s one bit of me that actually wants to go and stand on the court and look at him and there’s another bit of me that just can’t be bothered.”

Mr Rushdie said he did not have “a very high opinion” of his attacker, but that he was “more engaged with the business of, you know, getting on with it” and his “life continuing”.