Salman Rushdie Attacker Faces US Federal Terrorism Trial

NEW YORK, NY-The man convicted of stabbing author Salman Rushdie, leaving him blind in his right eye, went on trial on federal transnational terrorism charges in a US court on July 22.

Assistant US Attorney Timothy Lynch told a federal court in Buffalo that Hadi Matar carried out the attack to “fulfil the fatwa” – the Iranian religious edict calling for Rushdie’s death after his novel ‘The Satanic Verses’ was deemed blasphemous by Islamic clerics.

Matar was convicted earlier this year in a New York state court of attempted murder and sentenced to 25 years in prison. He now faces separate federal terrorism charges that could carry a life sentence if convicted.

Because the charges fall under separate state and federal laws, Matar can be prosecuted in both courts for the same attack.

Matar, a US citizen of Lebanese descent, attacked Rushdie during a literary event at the Chautauqua Institution, an arts and literary center in western New York, in 2022. The federal trial is being held in Buffalo.

Matar has pleaded not guilty to the federal conspiracy and terrorism charges. His attorney, Nathaniel Barone, argued that Matar acted alone and, as a religious person, was “enraged” by Rushdie.

The fatwa against Rushdie was issued in 1989 by Iran’s then-Supreme Leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, forcing the Booker Prize-winning author into years of hiding under British government protection.

Rushdie, who now wears an eye patch after losing sight in his right eye, is expected to testify during the trial. He later wrote about the attack and its aftermath in his memoir, ‘Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder’. (IANS)