NEW YORK, NY (ANI)- A jury in western New York has convicted Hadi Matar, a 27-year-old from New Jersey, of attempted murder for the stabbing of Indian-born British author Salman Rushdie.

The verdict came after testimony from Rushdie, who recalled being struck by his attacker’s dark, ferocious eyes. Initially feeling as though he was being punched, he soon realized he had “a very large quantity of blood pouring out” onto his clothes.

Matar was also convicted of assault for injuring Ralph Henry Reese, co-founder of a program that provides refuge for writers, who was on stage to moderate the event. Matar is set to be sentenced on April 23 and faces up to 32 years in prison, in addition to federal terrorism-related charges.

Rushdie had been scheduled to give a talk on August 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution. However, just before he began, a man dressed in dark clothing and a face mask stormed the stage and repeatedly stabbed him.

Rushdie suffered three stab wounds to his neck, four to his stomach, puncture wounds to his right eye and chest, and a cut on his right thigh. The attack left him blind in one eye and impaired the use of one of his hands. He was rushed to a hospital in northwestern Pennsylvania, where he underwent surgery for severe injuries, including a damaged liver and severed nerves in his arm and eye.

Matar had earlier praised Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini and admitted he did not expect Rushdie to survive. “When I heard he survived, I was surprised, I guess,” he told the New York Post.

When asked whether he was inspired by Khomeini, who issued a fatwa against Rushdie over his book The Satanic Verses, Matar responded, “I respect the Ayatollah. I think he’s a great person. That’s as far as I will say about that.” He admitted he had only read “like two pages” of Rushdie’s novel.

Rushdie had previously endured death threats following the 1988 publication of The Satanic Verses, which many Muslims considered sacrilegious. The late Iranian leader Ayatollah Khomeini called for his death, forcing Rushdie to spend a decade under British protection.

@India West J.