BUFFALO, N.Y. — Author Salman Rushdie testified in federal court in Buffalo, New York, on July 24, 2026, during the terrorism trial of Hadi Matar. Rushdie described the moment he was stabbed in 2022 and showed the jury the permanent physical damage resulting from the attack.

Rushdie removed his glasses to display his sightless right eye, a lasting injury from the assault. He testified that his wounds were dispersed across his body and that the knife used in the attack came within a millimeter of his brain. Rushdie said he initially felt what he thought was a punch under his chin before realizing he was being stabbed.

The author described the immediate aftermath of the violence at the Chautauqua Institution, where he was scheduled to speak about threats to writers and artists. "I was on the stage, lying down, with an enormous pool of blood all around me. It was an enormous and expansive lake of blood," Rushdie said.

The 2022 attack blinded him in his right eye, damaged his liver, and paralyzed his left hand for a time. He was briefly placed on a ventilator and required extensive medical treatment.

Henry Reese and other spectators aided Rushdie and restrained Matar during the incident. Law enforcement officers assigned to the event arrested Matar shortly after the attack. Rushdie testified that he had led a public life without trouble for more than two decades after the Iranian government distanced itself from a fatwa against him in 1998. "I had no knowledge, but I had my suspicions," he said, regarding Matar’s ties to terrorism.

When asked about anticipating blowback from his work, Rushdie addressed the courtroom directly. "Probably, but I don’t believe the book to be on trial here. I believe someone else is on trial," he said.

The judge struck the final portion of that comment from the court transcript at the request of defense lawyer Nathaniel Barone. Rushdie is scheduled to testify again later in the week during the federal trial.

The federal trial began on Wednesday, July 23, 2026, in Buffalo, New York, approximately 70 miles from the site of the attack. Matar pleaded not guilty to federal charges, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. The 28-year-old holds citizenship in the U.S. and Lebanon and was born in California.

He was previously convicted of state-level attempted murder and assault for the same attack and is currently serving a 25-year state prison sentence. If convicted on the federal charges, he faces a potential life sentence.

Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch outlined the prosecution's case in opening statements, alleging that Matar acted on the 1989 fatwa issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for Rushdie’s death. Lynch stated that Matar wrote to himself, "We need to kill him ASAP." The prosecutor argued that Matar cast the killing as part of what he considered a jihad, or holy war, and that fulfilling the fatwa was his intent.

Lynch stated that Matar was animated partly by comments made by former Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah in 2006. The U.S. government designates Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Prosecutors allege Matar acted out of loyalty to the Iranian government and Hezbollah.

he noted that Matar’s New Jersey bedroom and electronics held photos and material showing regard for the group. A 2025 court filing stated that federal agents found photos of Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and Ayatollah Ali Khamenei in Matar’s bedroom.

Lynch also stated that Matar carried a fake driver’s license with a name similar to that of a Hezbollah figure. Court filings claim Matar corresponded with an Iran-based contact in the months before the stabbing who said he knew where to find Rushdie. The filings also claim Matar asked the contact whether the fatwa remained active.

Matar started researching Rushdie in 2020, and a 2025 court filing stated he kept a journal and sticky notes logging his research and possible ways to kill the author. Investigators say the journal included a note weighing the case for acting swiftly given Rushdie’s age, stating he could die "any day now," and "So NOW or NEVER!!!"

Matar produced and circulated propaganda videos in the months before the attack, incorporating a 2006 speech by Nasrallah. His mother said a 2018 trip to Lebanon left him moody and withdrawn. Matar’s lawyers had previously tried unsuccessfully to exclude some evidence from his social media accounts and other digital activity.

During Rushdie’s testimony, Matar looked down at the defense table and rarely looked at the author. He also took notes on a yellow pad and rarely looked at jurors during the opening statements.

Defense lawyer Nathaniel Barone argued that prosecutors cannot prove Matar’s intent or mindset at the time of the attack. Barone urged jurors to keep their minds open about Matar’s intent during opening statements. Barone stated outside the federal court that his client may testify in this proceeding. Matar declined to testify at his state court trial.

The 1989 fatwa against Rushdie was never officially repealed. Iran’s government has denied involvement in the 2022 stabbing, though Iran’s Foreign Ministry’s then-spokesperson suggested Rushdie invited trouble by insulting Islam. Rushdie’s novel "The Satanic Verses" includes a dream sequence about Islam’s Prophet Muhammad that some Muslims considered blasphemous.

The 79-year-old author was born in India, moved to Britain at age 14, and is now a U.S. citizen. He won the Booker Prize in 1981 for "Midnight’s Children" and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II. Rushdie published a memoir titled Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder in 2024 and released "The Eleventh Hour," a book of short stories and novellas, in 2025. He was recognized with a Dayton Literary Peace Prize lifetime achievement award in November. The federal trial is expected to last approximately two weeks.