The trial of the man accused of trying to murder author Salman Rushdie kicked off with a call from the accused to “free Palestine.”

The defendant, Hadi Matar, was brought into the courtroom Monday. When he walked by the area where members of the press were gathered, he said, “Free Palestine. Free Palestine.”

Mr. Matar is charged with attempted murder and assault for the 2022 stabbing of Mr. Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York. He has pleaded not guilty. 

The celebrated author was stabbed more than a dozen times throughout the 27-second attack, which was recorded on video, leaving him blind in his right eye and with his left hand paralyzed. 

Prosecutors say Mr. Matar was motivated by a 1989 fatwa issued by Iran’s former Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, which was issued after the publication of Mr. Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses.” The fatwa led Mr. Rushdie to live in hiding for several years. 

In a separate indictment, federal prosecutors also allege that Mr. Matar was motivated to carry out the attack based on the belief that the fatwa was endorsed in 2006 by the leader of the Lebanon-based terrorist organization, Hezbollah. 

Mr. Matar was born in America. However, he has dual citizenship in Lebanon, where his parents were born. 

The Chautauqua County district attorney, Jason Schmidt, has said he does not believe he will have to mention the fatwa and its potential role in motivating Mr. Matar to secure a conviction. 

“From my standpoint, this is a localized event. It’s a stabbing event. It’s fairly straightforward,” Mr. Schmidt said. “I don’t really see a need to get into motive evidence, whether that’s applicable or not applicable, and what that consists of. I’d like to avoid all of that.”

He also noted that the attack “isn’t a back alley event that occurs unwitnessed in a dark alley.” Instead, he said, “This is something that was recorded. It was witnessed live by thousands of people.”

On Monday, Mr. Schmidt told jurors that Mr. Matar ran up a stairwell to the stage where Mr. Rushdie was about to deliver an address on protecting writers. The prosecutor said Mr. Matar “without hesitation” began to stab the famed writer “very deliberately.”

One witness who tried to stop the attack, Jordan Steves, told jurors that Mr. Matar was the individual he saw detained by law enforcement “moments” after the attack.

The jurors are expected to be shown video footage of the attack and to hear from more than a dozen witnesses. 

Mr. Matar’s defense attorney, Nathaniel Barone, has questioned whether his client will be able to get a fair trial. Speaking to the U.K.’s Telegraph, he said, “Do you know, during jury selection, I didn’t have, out of over hundreds of jurors, I didn’t have any Muslims, any one of the Muslim religion, I had no one of Middle Eastern descent in that jury pool.”

“So how is that a fair trial? How is that a trial of Mr Matar’s peers,” he asked. He did say he believed that there were “some good jurors” who “seemed open-minded” that have been picked, but said it will still be a “difficult case.”

Mr. Barone previously sought to have the location of the trial moved due to the publicity around the case and what he felt was a lack of diversity in the jury pool. However, the court denied his request.