Man who attacked Salman Rushdie found guilty of attempted murder

HADI MATAR, the man who attacked author Salman Rushdie on stage at a New York arts event in 2022, has been found guilty of attempted murder.

A jury convicted Matar, 27, on Friday after a trial at Chautauqua County Court in Mayville. During the attack, Matar rushed onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institution as Rushdie was being introduced for a discussion on writer safety. Some videos of the attack were shown to jurors during seven days of testimony.

Rushdie, 77, was stabbed multiple times in the head, neck, torso, and left hand. The attack blinded him in his right eye and caused serious injuries to his liver and intestines, requiring emergency surgery and a long recovery.

The author testified at the trial, recounting how he believed he was going to die. He removed his adapted spectacles with a blacked-out right lens to show jurors his blinded eye.

Matar was convicted of attempted murder in the second degree and assault in the second degree. The assault charge relates to the stabbing of Henry Reese, co-founder of Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum, who was moderating the discussion with Rushdie when the attack occurred.

Matar will be sentenced on 23 April and could face up to 25 years in prison.

After the verdict, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt commended the audience members who intervened during the attack.

“The Chautauqua Institution community, which I believe saved Mr Rushdie’s life when they intervened, I would say to you that this entire community deserved swift justice here, and I’m glad that we were able to achieve that for them,” Schmidt said.

Matar’s lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, said his client was disappointed with the verdict.

“The video, I think, was extremely damaging to Mr Matar,” Barone said outside the courtroom. “It’s that old expression, a picture is worth a thousand words.”

Rushdie, born into a Muslim Kashmiri family in India, has faced threats since the 1988 release of his novel The Satanic Verses. Iran’s then-Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, had declared the book blasphemous.

After his arrest, Matar told the New York Post that he travelled from his home in New Jersey to the event because he disliked Rushdie, saying the author had “attacked Islam.” He also told the paper he was surprised Rushdie survived.

Matar did not testify in his trial. His lawyers argued that prosecutors had not proven the intent to kill needed for an attempted murder conviction and said he should have been charged with assault instead.

Separately, Matar faces federal charges in western New York, including attempting to murder Rushdie as an act of terrorism and providing material support to Hezbollah, which the US has designated a terrorist organisation.

He is set to face those charges in a separate trial in Buffalo.

(With inputs from agencies)