MAYVILLE, N.Y.: Author Salman Rushdie does not have to turn over private notes about his stabbing to the man charged with attacking him, a judge ruled Thursday, rejecting the alleged assailant’s contention that he is entitled to the material as he prepares for trial.
Hadi Matar’s lawyers in February subpoenaed Rushdie and publisher Penguin Random House for all source material related to Rushdie’s recently published memoir: “Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder,” which details the 2022 attack at the Chautauqua Institution. Public Defender Nathaniel Barone said the material he sought contained information not available anywhere else.
“You could obtain it from the book,” Chautauqua County Judge David Foley told Barone during arguments Thursday, before ruling the request too broad and burdensome. Additionally, the judge said, Rushdie and the publisher are covered by New York’s Shield law, which protects journalists from being forced to disclose confidential sources or material.
Requiring Rushdie to hand over personal materials “would have the net effect of victimizing Mr. Rushdie a second time,” Elizabeth McNamara, an attorney for Penguin Random House, said in asking that the subpoenas be quashed.
Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty to assault and attempted murder after being indicted by a Chautauqua County grand jury shortly after authorities said he rushed the stage and stabbed Rushdie as he was about to address about 1,500 people at an amphitheater at the western New York retreat.
Rushdie, 77, spent years in hiding after the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for his death due to his novel “The Satanic Verses,” which some Muslims consider blasphemous. Over the past two decades, Rushdie has traveled freely.
Also Thursday, the judge rescheduled Matar’s trial from September to October to accommodate Rushdie’s travel schedule, and that of City of Asylum Pittsburgh Director Henry Reese, who was moderating the Chautauqua Institution appearance and was also wounded. Both men are expected to testify.
Jury selection is now scheduled to begin Oct. 15, District Attorney Jason Schmidt said.
Salman Rushdie’s alleged assailant won’t see author’s private notes before trial
https://arab.news/mqrcy
Salman Rushdie’s alleged assailant won’t see author’s private notes before trial
Putin and Trump discuss Iran and Ukraine wars: Kremlin
- Putin and Trump held a one-hour call in their first talks since December
MOSCOW: Russia’s President Vladimir Putin and US President Donald Trump on Monday discussed the Iran war and Ukraine conflict during a “frank and constructive” telephone call, the Kremlin said.
Putin and Trump held a one-hour call in their first talks since December and Washington sought the discussion, Putin’s diplomatic adviser Yuri Ushakov was quoted as saying by Russian news agencies.
“The accent was placed on the situation surrounding the conflict with Iran and the bilateral negotiations underway with the representatives of the United States on settling the Ukrainian question,” Ushakov said.
Ushakov said Putin called for a “quick political and diplomatic settlement” to the US-Israeli war against Iran, which has been a key ally for Russia.
The Russian leader also gave Trump “a description of the current situation on the line of contact where Russian troops are progressing with a lot of success,” he added, referring to the Ukraine war.
Putin “positively evaluated the mediation efforts undertaken” by Trump in the Ukraine conflict, the adviser said. A series of talks have been held between Russian and US officials and between Russian, US and Ukrainian officials, but with no breakthrough in efforts to reach a ceasefire.
Ushakov said Washington had wanted to “discuss a series of extremely important questions linked to the current international situation.”
“The conversation was serious and constructive,” he added.
Trump and Putin held a summit in Alaska in August last year.
