Hadi Matar Found Guilty in Attack on Salman Rushdie

After an eight-day trial, the man who attacked the famous writer Salman Rushdie in August 2022 and severely injured him with a knife has been found guilty of attempted murder and assault. According to NBC, the court issued its ruling against the attacker, Hadi Matar, a 27-year-old from New Jersey, on Friday. He was tried in Chautauqua Court in western New York. The Associated Press reported that his sentencing will be issued in April. The news agency noted that as Matar left the court, he shouted, 'Free Palestine!' Matar was accused of storming the stage where Rushdie was to give a speech and stabbing the 77-year-old author more than twelve times in the neck, abdomen, chest, hand, and right eye. This attack caused Rushdie to lose part of his eyesight. Earlier, Salman Rushdie described the harrowing moments of the 2022 attack by a knife-wielding assailant on stage at an event. In that attack, a masked man rushed at Rushdie in New York State and stabbed him multiple times, putting Rushdie's life in danger. According to the Associated Press, the 77-year-old author testified before the jury on the second day of Hadi Matar's trial. This was the first time since the attack that the British-American author faced the individual accused of attempting to kill him in the same room. Rushdie said, 'I only saw him at the last moment. I noticed a person dressed in black or dark clothing and a black mask. His eyes looked very large and wild.' Initially, he thought the attacker was hitting him with a fist, but then realized it was a knife. He continued, 'Suddenly I saw a lot of blood pouring onto my clothes. He was hitting me, stabbing me, and cutting me repeatedly.' Rushdie stated that he received several blows to his chest and upper body, and when he tried to escape, he was stabbed in the chest. He added, 'I was severely injured; I could no longer stand on my feet and fell.' While lying on the ground, he experienced severe pain and shock and realized he was drowning in a large volume of his own blood. Rushdie further testified, 'It occurred to me that I was dying. This was my dominant thought.' During the session, Rachel Eliza Griffiths, Rushdie's wife, was seen crying in the second row of the courtroom. The prominent author lost the vision in one eye due to this attack and spent months recovering. Ruhollah Khomeini, the founder of the Islamic Republic, had issued a fatwa for the killing of this author.