Salman Rushdie danced outside the jail cell that housed the man accused of attacking him.
Salman Rushdie danced outside the prison cell which housed the man accused of stabbing him
The 76-year-old author was left critically injured after he was stabbed onstage just moments before he was due to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York state in August 2022 and he went back to the venue after he recovered to revisit the site of the near-fatal assault before stopping in at the local prison.
During an appearance on 'The Daily Show', Salman said: "It was a last-minute decision [to visit the jail]. We were actually on the plane flying up, because I had this desire to go and revisit the scene of the crime and show myself that I was standing up where I fell down. Sort of important to me.
"But then on the flight up there, I thought, 'Chautauqua is a really small town and if he is in the county jail, how far is that from the institution?'
"And it turned out it was like five minutes’ drive. So I thought, 'Well, let's go to the jail!'"
He went on to add that it felt "good" to know the man accused of attacking him is locked up while the author is alive and free and he admitted a "weird thing happened" when he was standing outside the cell.
Salman added: "My feet started dancing... my feet were dancing."
However, he was quickly told off by his wife Rachel, who said: "Stop doing that."
After the stabbing in 2022, Salman was airlifted to hospital and underwent eight hours of surgery.
He lost an eye and suffered multiple stab wounds to areas of his face, neck, chest and hand, remaining under the care of doctors for 18 days before starting three weeks of rehabilitation treatment.
Hadi Matar, 24, was arrested on suspicion of attacking the author and later pleaded not guilty to charges of attempted murder and assault.
He is currently behind bars awaiting trial.
During a question-and-answer session at an English PEN event at the Southbank Centre in London earlier this month, Salman insisted he plans to be in court to testify against the man accused of harming him.
He added: "[The not guilty plea was] an absurdity... it doesn’t bother me to be in the courtroom with him. It should bother him."
Tagged in Salman Rushdie