Salman Rushdie attacker found guilty of attempted murder after brutal onstage stabbing
After an eight-day trial, the man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie in August 2022 was found guilty Friday of attempted murder and assault.
After an eight-day trial, the man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie in August 2022 was found guilty Friday of attempted murder and assault.
Hadi Matar, 27, of New Jersey, was on trial in Chautauqua County Court in western New York, accused of rushing onto the stage where Rushdie was about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution and stabbing the 77-year-old writer more than a dozen times in the neck, stomach, chest, hand and right eye. The attack left Rushdie partially blind.
Salman Rushdie in Madrid in 2024.Cesar Luis de Luca / dpa via Getty Images fileRushdie took the stand on the second day of testimony. Sitting about 20 feet from Matar, he said that he feared he was dying during the attack and that he initially thought he was being struck with a fist.
“But I saw a large quantity of blood pouring onto my clothes,” Rushdie said. “He was hitting me repeatedly. Hitting and slashing.”
The Indian-born British American author detailed his months of recovery in a 2024 memoir, "Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder."
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