A New York court has convicted Hadi Matar of attempted murder and assault for the knife attack on novelist Salman Rushdie in 2022. The 27-year-old Matar charged the stage at the Chautauqua Institution in New York during an event dedicated to discussing writers' safety and attacked Rushdie. Video footage presented in court showed the attacker rushing the stage wielding a knife.
77-year-old Salman Rushdie endured severe injuries to his head, neck, torso, and left hand. He also lost sight in one eye and suffered serious damage to his liver and intestines. Following the assault, he underwent emergency surgery and a lengthy medical recovery.
During the trial, Salman Rushdie testified in court, sharing that during the attack, he believed he was going to die. He removed his dark-lensed glasses to reveal his right eye, which lost its sight, to the jury.
Matar was found guilty of attempted murder and assault. The vicious attack also targeted Henry Reese, co-founder of Pittsburgh's City of Asylum, who was conversing with Rushdie at the time.
Born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in India, Rushdie has faced death threats since publishing his novel "The Satanic Verses" in 1988, which was deemed blasphemous by Iran's then-supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini.
After his arrest, Matar, in an interview with the New York Post, stated he attended the event from New Jersey because he disliked Salman Rushdie, alleging that Rushdie had attacked Islam, and he disagreed with Rushdie’s views.
Matar, an American-Lebanese citizen, did not testify in court. His defense attorneys claimed the prosecution failed to prove Matar intended to kill. Furthermore, Matar is set to face trial in federal court on terrorism charges, including attempting to murder Salman Rushdie and aiding Lebanon-based armed group Hezbollah. The U.S. has labeled Hezbollah as a terrorist organization. Matar's next trial will take place in the city of Buffalo.
