Salman Rushdie Attacker Convicted of Federal Terrorism Charges
A federal jury in Buffalo has convicted Hadi Matar, the man who stabbed Salman Rushdie more than a dozen times on stage at an event in western New York last year, of attempting to carry out a fatwa issued by Iran’s government against the award-winning British author over 30 years earlier.
Matar, 28, is already serving a 25-year sentence after being convicted last year in state court of attempted murder for the 2022 knife attack that left Rushdie blind in one eye and with nerve damage. The incident occurred at an event hosted by Chautauqua Institution in Mayville, New York.
Prosecutors argued that Matar had been enraged by Rushdie’s 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses,” which portrayed a fictionalized version of Muhammad that many Muslims saw as blasphemous. A year later, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, urging Muslims across the world to kill Rushdie.
Iran’s government later backed away from the fatwa, only for Khomeini’s successor, Ali Khamenei, to reaffirm it in 2017. Prosecutors said Matar spent more than a year studying the fatwa before attempting to fulfill it and had also turned to Islam after a visit to the Middle East years before the eventual attack.
The trial weighed whether Matar had committed an act of terrorism by attacking Rushdie or if he was motivated solely by his devotion to Hezbollah, a group backed by Iran. Prosecutors presented evidence that included notes referencing “Jihad” and the need to kill him ASAP, as well as a photo of Matar wearing a Hezbollah shirt while making a salute.
Matar’s defense attorney argued that his client acted independently and was not being controlled by Hezbollah. However, prosecutors countered that by showing evidence of Matar’s devotion to Hezbollah, including a video he created using remarks from a former leader of the group, they demonstrated that he had been motivated solely by his desire for martyrdom.
The jury took less than two hours to convict Matar on all three charges and is set to be sentenced on November 3. He now faces a maximum of life in prison and will likely face additional penalties beyond imprisonment if convicted of terrorism-related offenses.
Source: Fox News Latest
Based on reporting from Fox News Latest.
