Latest news with #ChautauquaCountyCourt
Dubai Eye
16-05-2025
- Dubai Eye
Man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie sentenced to 25 years
The man who stabbed and partially blinded novelist Salman Rushdie onstage at a Western New York arts institute in 2022 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for an attack that also wounded a second person, the district attorney said. Hadi Matar, 27, a US citizen from Fairview, New Jersey, was found guilty of attacking the author in the Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, in February. He faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge. Video that captured the assault shows Matar rushing the Chautauqua Institution's stage as Rushdie was being introduced to the audience for a talk about keeping writers safe from harm. Some of the video was shown to the jury during the seven days of testimony. "He's traumatized. He has nightmares about what he experienced," Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said after the sentencing hearing, referring to what Rushdie suffered. Also hurt in the attack was Henry Reese, co-founder of Pittsburgh's City of Asylum, a nonprofit that helps exiled writers. He was conducting the talk with Rushdie that morning. Schmidt said Matar was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the second degree attempted murder charge stemming from the attack against Rushdie and seven years for a second degree assault charged for the stabbing of Reese. The sentences will run concurrently. Rushdie, 77, has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of his controversial novel The Satanic Verses. The Indian-born British and American author was stabbed with a knife multiple times in the head, neck, torso and left hand. The attack blinded his right eye and damaged his liver and intestines, requiring emergency surgery and months of recovery. Matar did not testify at his trial. His defence lawyers told jurors that the prosecutors had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the necessary criminal intent to kill needed for a conviction of attempted murder, and argued that he should have been charged with assault. Matar's attorney Nathaniel Barone said his client will file an appeal. "I know if he had the opportunity, he would not be sitting where he's sitting today. And if he could change things, he would," Barone said. Matar also faces federal charges brought by prosecutors in the US attorney's office in Western New York, accusing him of attempting to murder Rushdie as an act of terrorism. Prosecutors accuse him of providing material support to Lebanon's Hezbollah group, which the US has designated as a terrorist organisation. Matar is due to face those charges at a separate trial in Buffalo.
ARN News Center
16-05-2025
- ARN News Center
Man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie sentenced to 25 years
The man who stabbed and partially blinded novelist Salman Rushdie onstage at a Western New York arts institute in 2022 has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for an attack that also wounded a second person, the district attorney said. Hadi Matar, 27, a US citizen from Fairview, New Jersey, was found guilty of attacking the author in the Chautauqua County Court in Mayville, New York, in February. He faced a maximum sentence of 25 years in prison on the attempted murder charge. Video that captured the assault shows Matar rushing the Chautauqua Institution's stage as Rushdie was being introduced to the audience for a talk about keeping writers safe from harm. Some of the video was shown to the jury during the seven days of testimony. "He's traumatized. He has nightmares about what he experienced," Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said after the sentencing hearing, referring to what Rushdie suffered. Also hurt in the attack was Henry Reese, co-founder of Pittsburgh's City of Asylum, a nonprofit that helps exiled writers. He was conducting the talk with Rushdie that morning. Schmidt said Matar was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the second degree attempted murder charge stemming from the attack against Rushdie and seven years for a second degree assault charged for the stabbing of Reese. The sentences will run concurrently. Rushdie, 77, has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of his controversial novel The Satanic Verses. The Indian-born British and American author was stabbed with a knife multiple times in the head, neck, torso and left hand. The attack blinded his right eye and damaged his liver and intestines, requiring emergency surgery and months of recovery. Matar did not testify at his trial. His defence lawyers told jurors that the prosecutors had failed to prove beyond reasonable doubt the necessary criminal intent to kill needed for a conviction of attempted murder, and argued that he should have been charged with assault. Matar's attorney Nathaniel Barone said his client will file an appeal. "I know if he had the opportunity, he would not be sitting where he's sitting today. And if he could change things, he would," Barone said. Matar also faces federal charges brought by prosecutors in the US attorney's office in Western New York, accusing him of attempting to murder Rushdie as an act of terrorism. Prosecutors accuse him of providing material support to Lebanon's Hezbollah group, which the US has designated as a terrorist organisation. Matar is due to face those charges at a separate trial in Buffalo.
Yahoo
22-02-2025
- Yahoo
Salman Rushdie Attacker Found Guilty for Brutal 2022 Assault That Left Novelist Blinded
Hadi Matar, the New Jersey man who attacked Salman Rushdie in 2022, seriously wounding him and leaving him blind in one eye, was found guilty on Friday of attempted murder and assault. The eight-day trial was held in Chautauqua County Court, where the jury deliberated for two hours before rendering their verdict. Matar is facing up to 30 years in prison, according to NBC News. The attack occurred on Aug. 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution in the western New York town of Chautauqua, where Rushdie was slated to speak at a literary festival. Rushdie testified on Feb. 11 that he noticed Matar before he rushed onstage with a knife. 'I was aware of this person rushing at me from my right hand side,' he said. 'I was struck by his eyes which seemed dark and ferocious to me.' The novelist recalled lying in 'a lake of blood' and holding up his hand in self-defense, which was also stabbed. 'It occurred to me that I was dying,' Rushdie said, according to the Associated Press. 'That was my predominant thought.' Rushdie was hospitalized for 17 days after the attack and still does not have the use of his right hand. The author had been receiving death threats since the 1989 publication of his novel 'The Satanic Verses,' which led Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to issue a call for Muslims around the world to kill him. The Booker Prize winner went into hiding until 1998, when the Iranian government called off the fatwa. He has lived in New York City since 2000. The Indian-British writer was knighted in 2007 by Queen Elizabeth II. Last year, Rushdie published a memoir of the near-fatal assault in a book titled 'Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.' The post Salman Rushdie Attacker Found Guilty for Brutal 2022 Assault That Left Novelist Blinded appeared first on TheWrap.
Yahoo
21-02-2025
- Yahoo
Salman Rushdie attacker found guilty of attempted murder
A New Jersey man has been convicted of attempted murder for stabbing author Sir Salman Rushdie multiple times on a New York lecture stage in 2022. A jury also found Hadi Matar, 27, guilty of assault for wounding a man who was on stage with Sir Salman at the time. The verdicts were delivered on Friday after less than two hours of deliberations following a trial in Chautauqua County Court. Matar ran onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institution where Sir Salman 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. Sir Salman was the key witness during seven days of testimony, describing in graphic detail his life-threatening injuries and long and painful recovery. Matar will be sentenced on April 23 where he could receive up to 25 years in prison. Jason Schmidt, the district attorney, played a slow-motion video of the attack for the jury during his closing argument, pointing out the assailant as he emerged from the audience, walked up a staircase to the stage and broke into a run toward Sir Salman. 'I want you to look at the unprovoked nature of this attack,' Mr Schmidt said. 'I want you to look at the targeted nature of the attack. There were a lot of people around that day but there was only one person who was targeted.' Andrew Brautigan, the assistant public defender, told the jury that prosecutors have not proved that Matar intended to kill Sir Salman. The distinction is important for an attempted-murder conviction. 'You will agree something bad happened to Mr Rushdie, but you don't know what Mr Matar's conscious objective was,' Mr Brautigan said. 'The testimony you have heard doesn't establish anything more than a chaotic noisy outburst that occurred that injured Mr Rushdie.' This is a breaking news story. More to follow Broaden your horizons with award-winning British journalism. Try The Telegraph free for 1 month with unlimited access to our award-winning website, exclusive app, money-saving offers and more.
Los Angeles Times
21-02-2025
- Los Angeles Times
Man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie is found guilty of attempted murder
MAYVILLE, N.Y. — 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. A jury also found Hadi Matar, 27, guilty of assault for wounding a man who was on stage with Rushdie. The verdicts were delivered after less than two hours of deliberations following a trial in Chautauqua County Court. Matar ran onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institution where Rushdie 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 prize-winning 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. The judge set sentencing for April 23. Matar could receive up to 25 years in prison. Dist. Atty. Jason Schmidt played a slow-motion video of the attack for the jury Friday during his closing argument, pointing out the assailant as he emerged from the audience, walked up a staircase to the stage and broke into a run toward Rushdie. 'I want you to look at the unprovoked nature of this attack,' Schmidt said. 'I want you to look at the targeted nature of the attack. There were a lot of people around that day but there was only one person who was targeted.' Assistant public defender Andrew Brautigan told the jury that prosecutors have not proved that Matar intended to kill Rushdie. The distinction is important for an attempted-murder conviction. 'You will agree something bad happened to Mr. Rushdie, but you don't know what Mr. Matar's conscious objective was,' Brautigan said. 'The testimony you have heard doesn't establish anything more than a chaotic noisy outburst that occurred that injured Mr. Rushdie.' 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 was the key witness during testimony that began last week. The Booker Prize-winning author 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 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. 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 is surrounded by people. 'We've shown you intent,' Schmidt said. The recordings also picked up the 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. Stabbed and slashed more than a dozen times in the head, throat, torso, thigh and hand, 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.' 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. A separate federal indictment alleges that Matar, of Fairview, N.J., 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 last quarter century. A trial on the federal terrorism-related charges will be scheduled in U.S. District Court in Buffalo. Thompson writes for the Associated Press.
