Salman Rushdie Attacker Convicted of Terror Charges Including Hezbollah Support

Hadi Matar, the 28-year-old American who stabbed renowned author Salman Rushdie 15 times during a 2022 lecture in New York, was convicted overnight in a federal court of multiple terrorism offenses, including providing material support to Hezbollah. Matar is already serving a 25-year sentence for attempted murder and now faces additional charges related to cross-border terrorism. Prosecutors argued Matar acted under the influence of a 1989 fatwa issued by Iran's religious leader calling for Rushdie's death, and was further inspired by a 2006 speech from Hezbollah's then-leader urging enforcement of the fatwa. Matar reportedly planned the attack for two years.

During the trial, Rushdie testified about the stabbing, describing how he was saved by a firefighter's immediate medical aid. He recounted being stabbed in the cheek, chest, eye, neck, and thigh, with the knife coming millimeters from his brain, and showed the jury his partially blinded eye. Prosecutors emphasized Matar's deliberate choice to carry out the attack, with federal assistant prosecutor Timothy Lynch stating, "The defendant decided no one else would do it, so he had to."

Matar's defense denied terrorism motives and questioned whether Rushdie expected backlash for his controversial 1988 book, The Satanic Verses. Rushdie responded that the trial was not about the book but about the attacker. The new federal conviction could lead to a life sentence, with sentencing scheduled for November 3. Rushdie's book, which sparked outrage among some Muslims for its depiction of the Prophet Muhammad, led to years of death threats and hiding. Rushdie later detailed his recovery in his memoir Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder and published a new novel, The Eleventh Hour, last year.