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
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Salman Rushdie’s alleged assailant won’t see author’s private notes before trial
Bangladesh rocked by unrest over death of student leader
- Protesters torch media offices, political sites and cultural landmarks
- Government declares state of mourning, urges calm amid rising tensions
Violent protests erupted in several cities across Bangladesh after the death of youth leader Sharif Osman Hadi late on Thursday, with concerns of further unrest ahead of national elections in which he was due to run.
Hadi, 32, a spokesperson for the Inquilab Mancha platform who participated in the student-led protests that overthrew the government of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, was shot in the head by masked assailants in Dhaka last Friday while launching his campaign for the elections.
He was initially treated at a local hospital before being flown to Singapore for advanced medical care, where he died after spending six days on life support.
Hadi was an outspoken critic of India, and Inquilab Mancha describes itself on its website as a “revolutionary cultural platform inspired by the spirit of uprising.”
In Dhaka, videos circulating on social media showed mobs vandalising the offices of the country’s largest daily newspaper, Prothom Alo, as well as the Daily Star.
The demonstrations were marked by emotionally charged slogans invoking Hadi’s name, with protesters vowing to continue their movement and demanding swift justice. Several areas remained tense, with additional police and paramilitary forces deployed to prevent further violence.
Police did not immediately comment, while the fire service said the blaze at the Daily Star was under control. Troops were deployed to the scene, and firefighters rescued journalists trapped inside the building.
Bangladesh has been governed by an interim administration led by Nobel laureate Muhammad Yunus since August 2024, after Hasina fled to India following a student-led uprising. The government has been grappling with fresh protests over delayed reforms, and warnings of unrest by Hasina’s party, which has been barred from the vote, scheduled for February 12.
In a televised address to the nation following Hadi’s death, Yunus said: “His passing represents an irreplaceable loss to the nation’s political and democratic sphere.”
Urging citizens to remain calm, Yunus said the government was committed to ensuring a transparent investigation and bringing all those responsible to justice. He also appealed for restraint, warning that violence would only undermine the country’s path toward a credible election.
The interim administration has declared Saturday a day of state mourning in honor of Hadi, with national flags to be flown at half-mast and special prayers planned across the country. The home of the country’s first president, Sheikh Mujibur Rahman, the father of Hasina, was vandalized and set on fire once again, after having been attacked twice previously in February and August last year.
In Dhaka, the premises of the prominent Bengali cultural organization Chhayanaut were vandalized and torched. In the northwestern district of Rajshahi, protesters demolished an Awami League party office using a bulldozer, while demonstrators blocked major highways in several other districts.
Violence was also reported in a number of cities across Bangladesh, including the port city of Chittagong, where protesters attacked the Indian Assistant High Commission and set fire to a house belonging to a former Awami League education minister. The unrest follows fresh anti-India protests earlier in the week, with ties between the neighbors deteriorating since Hasina fled to Delhi. On Wednesday, hundreds of demonstrators under the banner “July Oikya” (July Unity) marched toward the Indian High Commission in Dhaka, chanting anti-India slogans, while also demanding the return of Hasina.
