Opening Statements Set in Trial of Man Accused of Trying to Kill Salman Rushdie

Hadi Matar, (R), talks with public defender Nathaniel Barone in Chautauqua County court during the first day of jury selection in Mayville, New York on Feb. 4, 2025. Adrian Kraus/AP Photo

MAYVILLE, N.Y.—Lawyers are scheduled to deliver opening statements Monday at the trial of the man charged with trying to fatally stab author Salman Rushdie in front of a lecture audience in western New York.

Rushdie, 77, is expected to testify during the trial of Hadi Matar, bringing the writer face-to-face with his knife-wielding attacker for the first time in more than two years.