Salman Rushdie Assault

In this courtroom sketch, Salman Rushdie, left, testifies in federal court during the terrorism trial for Hadi Matar, Rushdie's alleged attacker, Thursday, July 23, 2026, in Buffalo, N.Y.

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Salman Rushdie testifies at the terrorism trial of the man convicted of stabbing him

Salman Rushdie testifies at the terrorism trial of the man convicted of stabbing him

Salman Rushdie has testified for the second time about being stabbed nearly to death four years ago in a western New York amphitheater. The prize-winning author took the witness stand Thursday at Hadi Matar's federal terrorism trial. The 28-year-old Matar already was convicted of a state-level attempted murder charge in the 2022 attack at a cultural institution where Rushdie was poised to speak about threats to writers and artists. Matar has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that include engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. Prosecutors claim Matar was motivated by an Iranian leader’s 1989 call for Rushdie’s death because of his novel “The Satanic Verses.”