A man has been found guilty of attempted murder over an attack on author Sir Salman Rushdie.
The 77-year-old British-American writer was stabbed multiple times as he was preparing to give a speech in New York in 2022.
He was blinded in his right eye in the incident, suffered a severely damaged hand, and spent months recovering.
Following a trial in Chautauqua County Court, Hadi Matar, 27, was found guilty by a jury of attempting to murder Sir Salman after less than two hours of deliberations.
Matar ran onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institution where the author was about to speak on 12 August 2022, and stabbed him in front of an audience.
The Indian-born writer, who spent most of the 1990s in hiding in the UK after receiving death threats over his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, was stabbed about 15 times.
Sir Salman was attacked in the head, neck, torso, and left hand. He also suffered damage to his liver and intestines.
During the trial, he described the moment Matar attacked him and told the court: “I only saw him at the last minute.
“I was aware of someone wearing black clothes, or dark clothes and a black face mask. I was very struck by his eyes, which were dark and seemed very ferocious to me.
“I thought he was hitting me with his fist but I saw a large quantity of blood pouring onto my clothes.
“He was hitting me repeatedly. Hitting and slashing.”
The judge set a sentencing date of 23 April, when Matar could be jailed for up to 25 years.
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Content Source: news.sky.com