Salman Rushdie testifies about his shock and pain as an attacker repeatedly stabbed him on stage

MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — With a mix of humor and graphic detail, Salman Rushdie calmly told a jury Tuesday about the frenzied moments in August 2022 when a masked man rushed at him on a stage in western New York and repeatedly slashed him with a knife, leaving him with terrible injuries.

“It occurred to me that I was dying. That was my predominant thought,” the renowned author said, adding that the people who subdued the assailant likely saved his life.

Just a short drive from where the attack at the Chautauqua Institution occurred, Rushdie took the stand during the second day of testimony at the trial of Hadi Matar, 27, who has pleaded not guilty to attempted murder and assault in the attack, which also wounded another man.

It was the first time since the stabbing that the 77-year-old writer found himself in the same room as Matar, whom Rushdie refused to even name when he looked back on the day in his 2023 memoir, “Knife.” The book called him “the A,” as in assassin, or assailant or asinine.

In the memoir Rushdie imagined a conversation with his assailant, fabricating a dialogue — a strained attempt at understanding — they might have had should the two ever speak.

But on Tuesday they hardly seemed to acknowledge each other. Rushdie on occasion looked off to his right, where the defendant sat some 20 feet (6 meters) away, but showed no sign of recognition. Matar, with attorneys on either side, rarely raised his head while Rushdie spoke.

District Attorney Jason Schmidt did not ask Rushdie to identify Matar. Rushdie testified that he got just a brief look at the man who rushed across the stage and stabbed him repeatedly with a 10-inch (25 centimeter) knife.

In testimony stricken from the record at the defense’s request, he added: “I was very struck by his eyes, which were dark and seemed very ferocious.”

Rushdie said he first thought his attacker was striking him with a fist. “But I saw a large quantity of blood pouring onto my clothes,” he said. “He was hitting me repeatedly. Hitting and slashing.”

The testimony came just ahead of the 36th anniversary of the day — Feb. 14, 1989 — that Rushdie has ruefully referred to as the worst possible Valentine’s Day, when Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his death because of the supposed blasphemy in his novel “The Satanic Verses.”

Rushdie spent years in hiding, a wrenching adjustment for an otherwise engaging and sociable man. But after Iran announced that it would not enforce the decree, he had traveled freely over the past quarter century, and security lightened to the point where his Chautauqua talk was announced months in advance.

Several law enforcement cars were in front of the courthouse Tuesday morning, and security was also present on the rooftop of the jail across the street.

Matar is a dual Lebanese-U.S citizen, born in the U.S. to immigrants from Yaroun in Hezbollah-dominated southern Lebanon near the Israeli border, according to the village’s mayor. In a jailhouse interview with the New York Post, he did not refer directly to “The Satanic Verses” but called Rushdie someone “who attacked Islam.”

On the trial’s first day, Mahar calmly said “Free Palestine” while being led into the courtroom. On Tuesday he said in a dull chant, “From the river to the sea, Palestine will be free.”

The trial is expected to last around two weeks.

In a separate indictment, federal authorities allege that Matar was driven to act by a terrorist organization’s 2006 endorsement of the fatwa. A later trial on federal terrorism charges will be scheduled in U.S. District Court in Buffalo.

Rushdie, dressed in a plain, dark suit, spoke in an even, mild tone, even when recounting how he lay in a “lake” of blood. He briefly bared to the jurors his now-blinded right eye, usually hidden behind a darkened eyeglass lens.

Born in India, raised in Britain and now a U.S. citizen, Rushdie is a Booker Prize-winning author who has been famous worldwide since “Midnight’s Children” was published more than 40 years ago. He has long been known for his eloquence, candor and wit that can surface in unexpected moments.

Under direct examination Rushdie spoke of undergoing painful surgery to seal the lid of his blinded eye. He turned to the jurors, and joked, “I don’t recommend it.”

Under cross examination from public defender Lynn Schaffer, who challenged his memories of the attack, he acknowledged that it was hard to say precisely how many times he was stabbed: “I wasn’t counting at the time. I was otherwise occupied.”

Rushdie spent 17 days at a Pennsylvania hospital and more than three weeks at a New York City rehabilitation center, where he relearned basic skills like squeezing toothpaste from a tube. He detailed his months of recovery in “Knife.”

“I think I’m not quite at 100%. I think I’ve substantially recovered, but it’s probably 75% to 80%,” Rushdie testified. “I’m not as energetic as I used to be. I’m not as physically strong as I used to be.”

Rushdie's wife, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, sat in the second row in the courtroom. In 2022 she took an emergency private flight to be at his side after being told he was unlikely to survive, and he dedicated a chapter of his book to her.

Griffiths cried at times, fanning herself and gripping the hand of a friend sitting beside her. As Rushdie left the room after his testimony, she smiled warmly at him and clasped her hands across her chest.

Associated Press writer Dave Collins in Hartford, Connecticut, contributed.

In this courtroom sketch, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Salman Rushdie's wife, second left, is seated in the courtroom as her husband testifies, during the trial of Hadi Matar, in Chautauqua County court, in Mayville, N.Y., Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Hadi Matar, left, talks with his defense team before leaving the courtroom at the Chautauqua County courthouse after his second day of trial, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Mayville, N.Y. Matar is charged with stabbing famed author Salman Rushdie. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Hadi Matar talks with his defense team before leaving the courtroom at the Chautauqua County courthouse after his second day of trial, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Mayville, N.Y. Matar is charged with stabbing famed author Salman Rushdie. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

In this courtroom sketch, Hadi Matar, second from left, stares at Salman Rushdie as he walks into court to testify at Chautauqua County Court, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Maryville, N.Y. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

In this courtroom sketch, District Attorney Jason Schmidt, left, questions Salman Rushdie, right, on the witness stand, as Judge David Foley presides during the trial of Hadi Matar, in Chautauqua County court, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Mayville, N.Y. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Hadi Matar sits at the defense table before the start of the second day of his trial at the Chautauqua County Courthouse, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Mayville, N.Y. Matar is charged with stabbing famed author Salman Rushdie. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Hadi Matar is escorted into the courtroom at the Chautauqua County Courthouse ahead of the second day in his trial, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Mayville, N.Y. Matar is charged with stabbing famed author Salman Rushdie. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

In this courtroom sketch, Salman Rushdie testifies on the witness stand, during the trial of Hadi Matar, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025 in Mayville, N.Y. showing how he was stabbed in the eye, when he was attacked in 2022. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Hadi Matar, center, is escorted into the courtroom at the Chautauqua County Courthouse ahead of the second day in his trial, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Mayville, N.Y. Matar is charged with stabbing famed author Salman Rushdie. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Hadi Matar is escorted into the courtroom at the Chautauqua County Courthouse ahead of the second day in his trial, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Mayville, N.Y. Matar is charged with stabbing famed author Salman Rushdie. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Hadi Matar, center, stands at the defense table with his attorneys before the start of the second day of his trial at the Chautauqua County Courthouse, Tuesday, Feb. 11, 2025, in Mayville, N.Y. Matar is charged with stabbing famed author Salman Rushdie. (AP Photo/Gene J. Puskar)

Hadi Matar, center, charged with severely injuring author Salman Rushdie in a 2022 knife attack, is led out of Chautauqua County court in Mayville, N.Y., Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

Hadi Matar, center, charged with severely injuring author Salman Rushdie in a 2022 knife attack, speaks to his defense team in Chautauqua County court in Mayville, N.Y., Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

In this courtroom sketch, District Attorney Jason Schmidt presents his opening statement in the trial of Hadi Matar, iin Chautauqua County court, in Mayville, N.Y., Monday, Feb. 10, 2025, as Judge David Foley is seated on the bench. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

In this courtroom sketch, Public Defender Lynn Shaffer asks her client, Hadi Matar, left, to stand while giving her opening statement in his the trial iin Chautauqua County court, in Mayville, N.Y., Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (Elizabeth Williams via AP)

Hadi Matar, right, charged with severely injuring author Salman Rushdie in a 2022 knife attack, speaks to his defense team in Chautauqua County court in Mayville, N.Y., Monday, Feb. 10, 2025. (AP Photo/Adrian Kraus)

FILE - Author Salman Rushdie poses for a portrait to promote his book "Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder", at the Deutsches Theater in Berlin, Germany, May 16, 2024. (AP Photo/Ebrahim Noroozi, File)

CINCINNATI (AP) — Cincinnati Bengals wide receivers Ja’Marr Chase and Tee Higgins officially inked four-year extensions on Tuesday that keep them in Cincinnati for their primes along with quarterback Joe Burrow.

The two star playmakers highlighted how much expectations have changed within the Bengals’ organization over the last five years, which have included four straight winning seasons, five playoff victories and an appearance in the Super Bowl.

“I want to win a championship, and we can definitely win it here,” Higgins said during a joint press conference shortly after the signings became official. “The money isn’t the big factor. It’s being with the guys for another four years and trying to win that championship.”

With Burrow under contract through the 2029 season, two solid starting offensive tackles and a standout young running back in Chase Brown, the Bengals should continue to have one of the best offenses in the NFL.

The final steps toward keeping this core on offense together was finalizing the contracts with Higgins and Chase.

Chase’s $161 million contract makes him the highest-paid non-quarterback in the NFL, and Higgins’ $115 million deal will make him one of the league's top 10 highest-paid receivers.

“Now that this is concluded, the next step for us is a championship with these guys,” head coach Zac Taylor said. “I think that’s a big reason why they wanted to be here; why they wanted to come back — they know there’s more for us to accomplish as a team, a lot more wins to be had, a lot more great moments.”

The Bengals haven’t had a losing season since they drafted Chase with the fifth overall pick in 2021. Last season, he became the first player in NFL history with at least 100 receptions (127), 1,700 yards receiving (1,708) and 17 touchdown receptions in a season.

Despite having one of the league's most prolific offenses in 2024, the Bengals were 9-8 and missed the playoffs for the second straight season.

Chase said on Tuesday that he wouldn’t have had the season that he did without Higgins playing alongside him. As Chase negotiated his deal, he made sure that their shared agent, Rocky Arceneaux, knew how much it was a priority for Higgins to stay in Cincinnati.

“Signing us together, that’s the whole goal, for us to push this team and each other as far as we can go,” Chase said. “The one goal is to be the best in the AFC first. That’ll give us the easiest chance to get to the Super Bowl. If we get that first, that will give us the chance to get the next step.”

Higgins — a second-round pick by the Bengals in 2020 — had been hoping to sign a lucrative contract for more than two years. He acknowledged that there were several times during that stretch where he didn’t think a deal would get done.

Last season, Higgins switched agents and got the same representation as Chase.

“I told Rocky, ‘Bro, do your big one,’” Higgins said. “I’m a quiet guy. I don’t do too much confrontation going back and forth. I had my full trust in Rocky. He was able to get it done.”

While contract talks over the last two years got frustrating at times, according to Higgins, the star receiver said that all is “good” now between him and Bengals ownership.

“Last year, I took a chance,” Higgins said. “I bet on myself. And I want to say it paid off. It’s all good now. It worked out in my favor. I’m just happy. I want to thank (executive vice president) Katie (Blackburn) and the whole organization for helping me and believing in me.”

In 2024, the Bengals led the NFL in passing yards and passing touchdowns and ranked sixth in points per game. While Chase had a historic season, Higgins also had a career year and ranked 30th in the NFL in catches despite missing five games due to injury.

In a statement, Bengals director of player personnel Duke Tobin said that Burrow, Chase and Higgins are a big part of giving the Bengals their identity.

“The Bengals have a long history of drafting and retaining elite wide receivers, and we’re happy to continue that tradition with Ja’Marr and Tee,” Tobin said. “We are known for our explosive, high-scoring offense, and Ja’Marr and Tee are a big part of that identity. They earned these extensions with their abilities and promise for the future.”

Tobin is also hoping to reach an extension with Trey Hendrickson despite the All-Pro edge rusher receiving permission to seek a trade. Hendrickson is heading into the final year of his contract after posting a league-leading 17 1/2 sacks last season.

“I definitely would love to see Trey back with us and he gets what he deserves," Higgins said. "He has been a great part of our defense for the last few years. I’d definitely love to see Trey back on the team.”

AP NFL coverage: https://apnews.com/hub/NFL

FILE - Cincinnati Bengals wide receiver Ja'Marr Chase, left, and wide receiver Tee Higgins, center, line up for a play during the second half of an NFL football game against the Pittsburgh Steelers, Sunday, Dec. 1, 2024, in Cincinnati. (AP Photo/Kareem Elgazzar, File)