Salman Rushdie has described in court the moment he was attacked on stage.
The British-Indian author, who was stabbed as he was preparing to give a speech in August 2022, took the stand in a New York courtroom to give evidence against the man charged in the attack.
Rushdie, 77, was blinded in one eye in the attack, suffered a severely damaged hand, and spent months recovering.
He told the court: “I only saw him at the last minute.
“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.
“I thought he was hitting me with his fist but I saw a large quantity of blood pouring onto my clothes.
“He was hitting me repeatedly. Hitting and slashing.”
Hadi Matar has pleaded not guilty. Pic: AP
Rushdie then told the court about feeling “a sense of great pain and shock” after the attack, adding he was “aware of the fact that there was an enormous quantity of blood that I was lying in”.
“It occurred to me that I was dying. That was my predominant thought,” he told the court.
His wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, cried from her seat in the courtroom as Rushdie testified.
Hadi Matar, 27, is charged with attempted murder and assault for attacking Rushdie – the author of Midnight’s Children and Victory City – at the Chautauqua Institution in New York.
He has pleaded not guilty, and the trial continues. It is expected to last up to two weeks.
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