Federal jury in Buffalo, New York, convicted Hadi Matar of federal terrorism charges for the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie. The verdict, delivered in less than two hours, found the 28-year-old guilty of all charges, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism and providing material support to Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization.
Matar, who holds both U.S. and Lebanese citizenship and was born in the United States, is already serving a 25-year state sentence for attempted murder related to the attack. The federal conviction carries a potential life sentence, with sentencing scheduled for November 3.
Motivation and Evidence
Prosecutors argued that Matar was motivated by the 1989 fatwa issued by Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for Rushdie's death over the novel The Satanic Verses. Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch stated in opening arguments that Matar "wanted everyone to know he was doing this for Hezbollah." The defense, led by Nathaniel Barone, countered that the government had no proof of Matar's internal motivations, asserting he acted independently.
Evidence presented at trial included videos made by Matar, his repeated discussions of the fatwa in messaging apps in 2021 and 2022, and allusions to a 2006 comment by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Matar had expressed anger that Rushdie had attacked Islam and framed the killing as part of a jihad. Photos in his New Jersey bedroom and on his computer indicated support for Hezbollah.
In private messages, Matar initially spoke of wanting to "expose" Rushdie, then escalated to wanting to "take his life," writing in one note, "We need to kill him ASAP." By spring 2022, he had identified Rushdie's residence and tracked his public appearances, pinpointing the August 2022 talk at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York, where Rushdie was about to speak on writers' safety.
Rushdie testified during the trial, describing the attack as taking him back to the past when he spent years in hiding, though the duration of that period remains debated. He credited a firefighter with saving his life, saying the knife came "within millimetres from my brain." The 2024 memoir, "Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder," recounts the ordeal.
The fatwa against Rushdie was never officially rescinded; Iran's Ayatollah Ali Khamenei indicated in 2017 it remained in effect, and an Iranian foundation offered a bounty exceeding $3 million. Rushdie won Britain's Booker Prize for "Midnight's Children" in 1981 and was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II, and received a Dayton Literary Peace Prize lifetime achievement award in 2024.