What the Salman Rushdie trial means for free speech
The Story
The Times
3.9 • 1.6K Ratings
🗓️ 20 February 2025
⏱️ 34 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
The British-Indian novelist Sir Salman Rushdie has faced his alleged attacker in court, after he was stabbed multiple times in 2022 during a public lecture in New York state. Hadi Matar, accused of assault and attempted murder, denies the charges. The author is no stranger to threats: in 1989, Iran's Supreme Leader called for his death, after deeming his novel The Satanic Verses blasphemous. Will this attack on Rushdie, a symbol of free speech himself, threaten freedom of expression?
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Guests:
- Will Pavia, New York Correspondent, The Times.
- Robbie Millen, Literary Editor, The Times and The Sunday Times.
Host: Luke Jones.
Producer: Samantha Chantarasak.
Further reading: Salman Rushdie trial: I was dying, author says as he recounts attack
Clips: BBC News, WION, CNN, The Daily Show, Cream Cakes, American Express, CBC News, University of Vermont.
Photo: Getty Images.
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| 1:32.3 | A warning. This episode contains graphic descriptions of violence. |
| 1:55.3 | From The Times and the Sunday Times, this is The Story. I'm Luke Jones. I am in Chautauqua, so it's right on the sort of northwestern corner of New York State. |
| 2:02.0 | It's sort of on the end of a large, very long, frozen lake, and the whole place is covered in snow. |
| 2:08.2 | Times journalist Will Pavia has been at the usually quieter end of New York State. |
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