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British author Sir Salman Rushdie was so stunned when a masked man began stabbing him on stage that he did not try to fight back, a trial against his alleged attacker has heard.
The attack while Sir Salman was speaking on stage in western New York in August 2022 left him seriously wounded and blind in one eye.
Prosecutors accuse Hadi Matar of rushing the stage as the Booker Prize-winning author was about to give a lecture and stabbing the author repeatedly.
Matar was heard to say "free Palestine" as he was led into the courtroom for his trial on Monday.
Prosecutors at Chautauqua County Court in New York on Monday said that the 2022 attack was "so fast and came so unexpectedly that Mr Rushdie continued to sit in his chair after his attacker inflicted the first few stab wounds."
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A Chautauqua Institution employee, where the stabbing took place, testified that he rushed from backstage to intervene.
"I ran as fast as I could, lowered my shoulder and got as much of him with as much of me as I could to disrupt what was happening," said Jordan Steves.
Mr Steves, one of two witnesses to give evidence on Monday, identified Matar as the attacker.
The Indian-born British-American author detailed the attack and his long, painful recovery in a memoir, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, released last year.
Sir Salman had worried for his safety since his 1989 novel The Satanic Verses was denounced as blasphemous by many Muslims and led to Iran's Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issuing a fatwa calling for his death.
He spent years in hiding, but had travelled freely over the past quarter of a century after Iran announced it would not enforce the decree.
The trial is taking place as the 36th anniversary of the fatwa - on February 14, 1989 - approaches.
Matar, 27, of Fairview, New Jersey, is charged with attempted murder and assault. He has pleaded not guilty.
The trial will last up to two weeks, the lawyers said.
