Man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie convicted of ‘terrorism’ charges

US court finds attacker, who is already serving 25-year prison sentence, guilty of additional charges over 2022 assault.

A man already serving a prison sentence in New York for attempting to murder the novelist Salman Rushdie has additionally been found guilty of federal “terrorism” charges and could be jailed for life.

Hadi Matar, 28, is currently serving a 25-year prison sentence for attempting to kill Rushdie in a knife attack in 2022.

Recommended Stories

• list 1 of 3India can import Rushdie’s Satanic Verses after ban order ‘untraceable’
• list 2 of 3‘Screaming because of the pain’: Salman Rushdie recounts stabbing at trial
• list 3 of 3Attacker who stabbed author Salman Rushdie sentenced to 25 years in prison

That happened during a speaking engagement in New York and left Rushdie partially blind. Matar was sentenced to 25 years in May last year.

After two hours of deliberations on Wednesday, a New York jury found Matar guilty on all charges, including attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah in Lebanon. The US designates the Iran-backed group as a terrorist organisation, engaging in terrorism transcending national boundaries and providing material support to terrorists.

The British-American novelist Rushdie was born in India to a Muslim family. His books have won wide acclaim: his novel Midnight’s Children earned the Booker Prize, a top literary honour awarded each year to a work of English-language fiction.

But it was his fourth novel, The Satanic Verses, in 1988 that stirred up lasting controversy, specifically for passages deemed blasphemous to Muslims. By 1989, Iran’s then-Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini had issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death.

Prosecutors argued during Matar’s latest trial that he was inspired by Khomeini’s decree. Evidence presented in court alleged that Matar angrily discussed the fatwa on messaging apps in 2021 and 2022.

“His brutal attack on Mr Rushdie during a peaceful speaking event is a chilling reminder of the global reach of Iranian terrorism,” Assistant Attorney General for National Security, John Eisenberg, said in a statement after the verdict, adding that “justice has been done”.

Iran has denied any involvement in the attack.

Rushdie testified during Matar’s federal trial last week, speaking in court for nearly an hour about the assault.

When asked if he believed Matar was motivated to carry out the fatwa, Rushdie replied: “I had no knowledge of that. I have my suspicions,” according to US media.

Rushdie has also channelled his experiences from the attack into a memoir called Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.