Man found guilty of attempted murder and assault

A man accused of stabbing and trying to kill renowned British-Indian author Sir Salman Rushdie in New York has been found guilty of attempted murder and assault.

Hadi Matar, a 27-year-old man from New Jersey, now faces a potential sentence of more than 30 years in prison.

Sir Salman survived the attack, but the injuries resulted in damage to his liver, lost vision in one eye and a paralysed hand caused by nerve damage to his arm.

The jury’s guilty verdict came after a two-week trial in Chautauqua County Court in western New York state, near where Matar stabbed Rushdie in August 2022 as he was delivering a lecture.

During the trial, Sir Salman described how he first thought he had been punched, before realising he had been stabbed in the right jaw and neck.

He was stabbed a total of 15 times, with wounds to his eye, cheek, back, chest, torso and thigh.