Man found guilty of trying to kill Salman Rushdie

I don't think he's a very good person. He's someone who attacked Islam,

he had said

I respect the Ayatollah. I think he's a great person. That's as far as I will say about that,

Matar said

When I heard he survived, I was surprised, I guess,

said Matar, as quoted by the New York Post

The video, I think, was extremely damaging to Mr. Matar,

Barone said outside the courtroom, referring to video of the attack that was shown repeatedly to jurors, sometimes in slow motion

Jason Schmidtdistrict Attorney

There were a lot of people around that day but there was only one person who was targeted,

Schmidt stated during his closing argument

The first thing I said on regaining the ability of speech was 'I can speak',

he said to stifled laughter from jurors

Salman Rushdieauthor

It was a stab wound in my eye, intensely painful, after that I was screaming because of the pain,

Rushdie said, adding

How do you squeeze toothpaste onto a toothbrush with only one hand?"

he explained when asked about injuries to his hand received as he tried to defend himself

Don’t make him sound like an angel of doom. He’s just a dumb clown who got lucky."

He added

It occurred to me that I was dying. That was my predominant thought,

the renowned author said,

Salman Rushdieauthor

I became aware of a great quantity of blood I was lying in,

Rushdie testified in court

A man jumped up on the stage from I don’t know where and started what looked like beating him on the chest, repeated fist strokes into his chest and neck,

Bradley Fisher, who was in the audience, said at the time

Salman Rushdieauthor

That guy had his 27 seconds of fame and now he should go back to being nobody.”

Rushdie later said of his attacker

Salman Rushdieauthor

But I saw a large quantity of blood pouring onto my clothes,

Rushdie said

We think that it became an attempted murder because of the notoriety of the alleged victim in the case,

Barone told reporters after testimony concluded Thursday

Jason Schmidtdistrict Attorney

I want you to look at the unprovoked nature of this attack,

Schmidt said

You will agree something bad happened to Mr Rushdie, but you don’t know what Mr Matar’s conscious objective was,

Brautigan said

Jason Schmidtdistrict Attorney

We’ve shown you intent,

Schmidt said

No, I do not,

Hadi Matar, 27, said when asked by Chautauqua County Judge David Foley whether he wished to take the stand