Salman Rushdie’s Attacker Faces Life Sentence After Terrorism Conviction

NEW YORK, NY -The man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie, leaving him blind in one eye, has been convicted on federal terrorism charges.

A federal jury on July 29 found Lebanese American Hadi Matar guilty of attempting to carry out the 1989 fatwa issued by Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for Rushdie’s death over his novel, ‘The Satanic Verses’, which Khomeini declared blasphemous.

The jury also convicted Matar of providing material support to the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah. Prosecutors cited a photograph of Matar wearing Hezbollah insignia and a propaganda video he created featuring speeches by Khomeini and a Hezbollah leader as evidence.

Matar, 28, was convicted last year in a New York state court of attempted murder for the 2022 attack on Rushdie and is serving a 25-year prison sentence.

Because the case involved both state and federal offences, Matar was tried separately in New York state and federal courts.

When he is sentenced in November in federal court in Buffalo, Matar could face a life sentence without parole.

Matar’s lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, did not dispute that his client attacked Rushdie but argued that Matar acted alone and not in coordination with Iran or Hezbollah. Barone said Matar was motivated by what he considered Rushdie’s blasphemy.

Following the fatwa, Booker Prize-winning author Rushdie lived for years under British government protection before eventually settling in New York City.

Rushdie, 79, was speaking at a literary program at the Chautauqua Institution, a literary and arts center in western New York, in 2022, where he was scheduled to discuss the protection of writers when Matar rushed the stage and stabbed him repeatedly.

During the trial, Rushdie testified that he found himself in “an enormous and expansive lake of blood” after the attack. Besides losing sight in his left eye, he suffered serious injuries to his left hand and liver. (IANS)