On February 21, a jury convicted Hadi Matar of trying to assassinate Salman Rushdie.
Additionally, he stormed a stage and repeatedly used a knife to strike the author of “Satanic Verses.”
Three years ago, British author Salman Rushdie, who was born in India, made headlines when he was attacked by Hadi Matar, a Lebanese American.
According to The New York Times, Hadi Matar was found guilty of attempted murder by a jury in western New York on Saturday.
Hadi Matar, a 27-year-old prisoner from Fairview, New Jersey, will be sentenced on April 23. He is a dual citizen of the United States and Lebanon. According to The New York Times, Hadi Matar faces up to 32 years in jail in addition to federal terrorism-related accusations.
The famous novelist was supposed to give a discussion at the Chautauqua Institution on August 12, 2022, when the incident occurred. Before the author could deliver his message about protecting writers from harm, Hadi Matar, dressed in black clothing and wearing a face mask, rushed up to the stage and repeatedly stabbed Salman Rushdie on that tragic day.
Rushdie was stabbed several times during the attack, sustaining injuries to his neck, stomach, right eye, chest, and leg. The attack left the author blind in one eye, damaged his liver and intestines, necessitating emergency surgery, and negatively affected his ability to use one hand.
According to reports, Hadi Matar supports the late Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, who issued a fatwa against Rushdie for his novel “The Satanic Verses,” and is a pro-Palestinian campaigner.
According to the New York Post, Hadi Matar detested the author and claimed that Rushdie had disparaged Islam. While stating that the reported AP “read like two pages” of Rushdie’s controversial novel, Matar said, “I read a couple of pages. I didn’t read the whole thing cover to cover,”.
Hadi Matar attacked the author after the leader of the militant organization Hezbollah made a statement in 2006 endorsing a fatwa (edict) that had been in place for decades and calling for Rushdie’s execution.
According to the AP, Hadi Matar was charged with attempted murder in addition to second-degree assault for stabbing Henry Reese, a co-founder of Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum.
