Man serving sentence for stabbing author convicted in separate terrorism trial
- Hadi Matar was convicted of federal terrorism charges for the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie, who has lived under a decades-old death threat.
- A jury found Matar guilty of all charges, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism, which carries a potential life sentence in addition to his existing 25-year state prison sentence for attempted murder.
- Prosecutors successfully argued that Matar was motivated by the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini’s 1989 call for Rushdie’s death due to his novel “The Satanic Verses.”
- Evidence presented showed Matar repeatedly discussed the fatwa in messaging apps and displayed support for Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
- Rushdie was gravely wounded in the August 2022 assault, suffering 15 stab wounds and ultimately losing sight in his right eye, an event he later chronicled in a memoir.
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