A New Jersey man is convicted of attempted murder in the stabbing of
Salman Rushdie
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 [February 22, 2025]
By CAROLYN THOMPSON
MAYVILLE, N.Y. (AP) — A New Jersey man was convicted 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 Rushdie at the time.
Matar ran up to Rushdie as he was about to speak on Aug. 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.
In his comments following the verdict, Schmidt said video evidence
helped make the case “rock solid.”
“We had a number of different angles to show the jurors," he said. "It
really is as compelling as it can possibly get.”
Schmidt added: “Mr. Matar came into this community as a visitor. And
really, it’s my job to make sure that he stays a resident of New York
state for the next 25 years."
During his closing argument, assistant public defender Andrew Brautigan
told the jury that prosecutors had not proved that Matar intended to
kill Rushdie. The distinction is important for an attempted-murder
conviction.
Schmidt said while it’s not possible to read Matar’s mind, “it’s
foreseeable that if you’re going to stab someone 10 or 15 times about
the face and neck, it’s going to result in a fatality.”
Rushdie, who has been famous worldwide since the novel “Midnight’s
Children” was published more than 40 years ago, told jurors he thought
he was dying when a masked stranger ran onto the stage and stabbed and
slashed at him until being tackled by bystanders. Rushdie showed jurors
his now-blinded right eye, usually hidden behind a darkened eyeglass
lens.
Schmidt reminded jurors Friday about the testimony of a trauma surgeon,
who said Rushdie’s injuries would have been fatal without quick
treatment.
He also slowed down video showing Matar approaching the seated Rushdie
from behind and reaching around him to stab at his torso with a knife.
Rushdie raises his arms and rises from his seat, walking and stumbling
for a few steps with Matar hanging on, swinging and stabbing until they
both fall and are surrounded by onlookers who rush in to separate them.
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Hadi Matar, charged with severely injuring author Salman Rushdie in
a 2022 knife attack, listens to his defense team in Chautauqua
County court in Mayville, N.Y., Thursday, Feb. 20, 2025. (AP
Photo/Adrian Kraus)
Rushdie is seen flailing on the ground, waving a hand covered in
bright red blood. Schmidt freezes on a frame showing Rushdie, his
face also bloodied, as he’s surrounded by people.
The video, recorded by the Chautauqua Institution's house cameras,
also picked up gasps and screams from audience members who had been
seated to hear Rushdie speak with City of Asylum Pittsburgh founder
Henry Reese about keeping writers safe. Reese suffered a gash to his
forehead, leading to the assault charge against Matar.
From the witness stand, institution staff and others who were
present on the day of the attack pointed to Matar as the assailant.
Rushdie spent 17 days at a Pennsylvania hospital and more than three
weeks at a New York City rehabilitation center. He detailed his long
and painful recovery in his 2024 memoir, “Knife.”
“The conviction of Salman Rushdie’s attacker is an important step
toward justice for this unparalleled writer and reaffirms that
violence can never be the answer to ideas," PEN America said in a
written statement Friday, noting that the case was “a stark reminder
of the enduring threats faced by writers who challenge authority and
orthodoxy.”
“We must remain vigilant in defending the right to speak, write, and
think, without fear," the statement read. Rushdie is a former
president of the nonprofit literary and free expression
organization.
Throughout the trial, Matar often took notes with a pen and
sometimes laughed or smiled with his defense team during breaks in
testimony. His lawyers declined to call any witnesses of their own
and Matar did not testify in his defense.
As he has previously, Barone said Friday that Matar likely would
have faced a lesser charge of assault were it not for Rushdie’s
celebrity.
“Unfortunately, the notoriety of Mr. Rushdie certainly didn’t help
in how this case may have been presented," he said. "And we believe
that it was overcharged.”
A separate federal indictment alleges that Matar, of Fairview, New
Jersey, was motivated to attack Rushdie by a 2006 speech in which
the leader of the militant group Hezbollah endorsed a decades-old
fatwa, or edict, calling for Rushdie’s death. Iranian leader
Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued the fatwa in 1989 after
publication of the novel “The Satanic Verses,” which some Muslims
consider blasphemous.
Rushdie spent years in hiding. But after Iran announced that it
would not enforce the decree, he had traveled freely over the past
quarter century.
A trial on the federal terrorism-related charges will be scheduled
in U.S. District Court in Buffalo.
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