Hadi Matar has pleaded not guilty to attacking British author with a knife while he was on stage at festival in 2022

Prosecutors are to lay out their framework of their case against Hadi Matar, the man accused of attacking author Salman Rushdie, on Monday as his trial began in a case that has attracted the world’s media to the small town of Mayville in western New York state.

Matar, a 27-year-old Lebanese American, is facing charges of attempted murder and assault in the stabbing attack on the author on stage at an arts festival in August 2022. The 77-year-old Rushdie was grievously injured in the attack and lost sight in one eye.