Salman Rushdie’s Attacker Convicted on Federal Terrorism Charges — Faces Life in Prison
A federal jury convicted Hadi Matar, the man who attacked author Salman Rushdie on stage in 2022, on terrorism charges Wednesday, finding that his attempt to murder the novelist was carried out on behalf of a foreign terrorist organization.
Jurors found Matar, 28, of Fairview, New Jersey, guilty of attempting to provide material support to Hizballah, a U.S.-designated foreign terrorist organization, engaging in an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, and providing material support to terrorists, according to the Justice Department.
Prosecutors said Matar attempted to murder Rushdie on Aug. 12, 2022, at the Chautauqua Institution in Mayville, New York, where the author was about to give a lecture when he was attacked on stage in front of an audience.
Investigators said Matar acted on a fatwa first issued in 1989 by Iran’s then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which called for Rushdie’s death over his novel “The Satanic Verses.” Evidence presented at trial showed Matar had spent more than a year immersing himself in Hizballah’s ideology and preparing to carry out the decades-old edict.
The stabbing left Rushdie blind in one eye and with nerve damage, injuries prosecutors say have had lasting physical consequences for the author.
Matar is already serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted last year in New York state court of attempted murder and assault for the stabbing. The new federal terrorism convictions carry a potential sentence of up to life in prison.
Matar is scheduled to be sentenced on Nov. 3. The conviction marks another chapter in a case that has drawn international attention to the reach of Iranian-linked fatwas and threats against writers more than three decades after Khomeini’s original edict.
