27-yr-old who stabbed Rushdie held guilty of attempted murder

A New Jersey man was convicted on Friday of attempted murder for stabbing author Salman Rushdie multiple times on a New York lecture stage in 2022.

- 

Jurors delivered the verdict after deliberating for less than two hours, also finding Hadi Matar, 27, guilty of assault for wounding a man who was on the Chautauqua Institution stage with Rush-die at the time.

Matar ran up to Rushdie as he was about to speak on August 12, 2022, and stabbed him more than a dozen times before a live audience. The attack left the 77-year-old prizewinning novelist blind in one eye.

Rushdie was the key witness during seven days of testimony, describing in graphic detail his life-threatening injuries and long and painful recovery.

Matar, who stood for the verdict, looked down but had no obvious reaction when the jury delivered it. As he was led out of the courtroom in handcuffs, he quietly uttered, "Free Palestine," echoing comments he has frequently made while entering and leaving the trial. The judge set sentencing for April 23. Matar could receive up to 25 years in prison, which district attorney Jason Schmidt noted is the maximum for a conviction on attempted murder in the second degree.

Matar was disappointed, according to his public defender, Nathaniel Barone. "But I thought, quite frankly, that he was well prepared for the verdict, regardless of what it was," Barone said.