{"id":21590,"date":"2026-07-30T03:16:42","date_gmt":"2026-07-29T22:16:42","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21590"},"modified":"2026-07-30T03:16:42","modified_gmt":"2026-07-29T22:16:42","slug":"man-convicted-in-terrorism-trial-over-2022-stabbing-of-author-salman-rushdie","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/?p=21590","title":{"rendered":"Man convicted in terrorism trial over 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie"},"content":{"rendered":"<p><script>\r\n  atOptions = {\r\n    'key' : '644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6',\r\n    'format' : 'iframe',\r\n    'height' : 90,\r\n    'width' : 728,\r\n    'params' : {}\r\n  };\r\n<\/script>\r\n<script src=\"https:\/\/www.highperformanceformat.com\/644b717812d811d6a1c1fc5b6ccd6fa6\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<br \/>\n<\/p>\n<div data-testid=\"prism-article-body\">\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao MvWXB TjIXL aGjvy ebVHC \">A man was convicted Wednesday of federal terrorism charges in the 2022 stabbing of <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/salman-rushdie\">Salman Rushdie<\/a>, the author who has faced a <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/general-news-e5d37dbb466142c5b72a0680dcc43980\">decades-old death threat<\/a> over his novel \u201cThe Satanic Verses.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A jury found Hadi Matar guilty of all the charges against him, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">A message seeking comment was sent to Matar\u2019s attorneys.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Matar, 28, is already serving a 25-year New York state prison sentence on an attempted murder conviction in the August 2022 attack on an amphitheater stage. The federal conviction carries a potential life sentence.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Rushdie, who was about to speak on writers\u2019 safety, was slashed 15 times in front of a stunned audience. He was gravely wounded and lost the sight in his right eye.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Prosecutors asserted that Matar was motivated by the late Iranian Supreme Leader <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/ap-top-news-france-paris-international-news-iran-revolution-anniversary-d154664bcfed47e49b0ae0ff3648779c\">Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini<\/a> \u2019s 1989 call for Rushdie\u2019s death because of \u201cThe Satanic Verses.\u201d Defense lawyer Nathaniel Barone countered that the government had no proof of what was in Matar\u2019s head. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Matar himself <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/salman-rushdie-stabbing-satanic-verses-hadi-matar-a3824490d9e33208c797ce0904b7d753\">declined to testify<\/a>. Rushdie did, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/salman-rushdie-stabbing-trial-hadi-matar-f0a0041dd12e2b214ec396879be72648\">telling jurors<\/a>: \u201cI can\u2019t say what his ambitions or his aim was, but the wounds were dispersed across my body.\u201d<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Rushdie won Britain\u2019s prestigious Booker Prize for his 1981 novel \u201cMidnight\u2019s Children,\u201d about his native India. \u201cThe Satanic Verses,\u201da novel of magical realism about the lives and dreams of two actors who survive a plane explosion, followed in 1988. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">It drew critical acclaim in the United Kingdom but engendered protests around the Muslim world over what some believers saw as blasphemous suggestions about Islam\u2019s <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/b9d4d21952d74636a18b0e3146dba922\">Prophet Muhammad<\/a>, particularly in a dream sequence. Over the ensuing years, at least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, a Japanese translator was stabbed to death, an Italian translator was attacked and survived, and the book\u2019s Norwegian publisher survived a shooting.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim family, has said the dream sequence was just that. But he went into hiding for years, gradually emerging after Iran\u2019s government distanced itself in 1998 from Khomeini\u2019s fatwa, or religious edict. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">\u201cFor two decades or more, I led a public life without a hint of trouble,\u201d Rushdie testified at the trial in Buffalo, New York. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Yet the fatwa was never rescinded; indeed, Khomenei\u2019s successor, the late <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-ayatollah-ali-khamenei-profile-funeral-us-war-israel-a6e0676d0263bb09cfa9e4128cc930ec\">Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/iran-salman-rushdie-reaction-e9bc5f6841e667cf36506a78496aa3dc\">indicated in 2017 that it remained<\/a> in effect. An Iranian foundation has <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/salman-rushdie-entertainment-united-states-literary-events-government-and-politics-e09005337f155c73a55e4bf4cd428b33\">offered a more than $3 million bounty<\/a> for killing Rushdie. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Matar repeatedly broached the fatwa with contacts in messaging apps in 2021 and 2022, according to exhibits shown in court. The messages showed Matar fuming that he felt Rushdie had attacked Islam and, by surviving, emboldened others to insult the faith. Matar alluded to a 2006 comment along those lines by the late Hezbollah militant group leader <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/hassan-nasrallah\">Hassan Nasrallah,<\/a> the messages showed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Born in the U.S., Matar also holds citizenship in Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based. Prosecutors said that photos in Matar\u2019s New Jersey bedroom and on his computer indicated his support for Hezbollah, which the U.S. has designated a terrorist organization. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">Matar aimed to fulfill the fatwa and \u201cwanted everyone to know he was doing this for Hezbollah,\u201d Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/salman-rushdie-stabbing-trial-hadi-matar-5d2a06a832e8a3848cff7e8b58b7a17e\">said in an opening statement<\/a> July 22.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">The messages showed Matar initially talked about wanting to \u201cexpose\u201d Rushdie, then about taking his life. In a private note to himself, he wrote: \u201cWe need to kill him ASAP,\u201d according to Lynch. The prosecutor said Matar framed the planned killing as part of what he considered a jihad, or holy war.<\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">By spring 2022, the electronic chats showed, Matar wrote that he had discerned where Rushdie lived and was tracking his public appearances, eventually pointing out his scheduled August 2022 talk at the Chautauqua Institution, a western New York arts and intellectual center. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC TjIXL aGjvy \">As Rushdie was being introduced, his attacker climbed on stage behind him, then stabbed him 15 times as the audience gasped. Spectators and another speaker, Henry Reese, scrambled to aid Rushdie. Law enforcement officers, assigned to the event, arrested the attacker \u2014 soon identified as Matar \u2014 after civilians restrained him. <\/p>\n<p class=\"EkqkG IGXmU nlgHS yuUao lqtkC eTIW sUzSN \">Rushdie published a 2024 <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/salman-rushdie-knife-national-book-awards-97dda186a6d5153265b6ffbffe9eb412\">memoir about the attack<\/a>, then returned to fiction with last year\u2019s <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/salman-rushdie-new-fiction-book-eleventh-hour-6b707c2bfe3361811d4ca9dbee0ae32d\">\u201cThe Eleventh Hour.\u201d<\/a> The author, who was knighted by Britain\u2019s late Queen Elizabeth II, <a class=\"zZygg UbGlr iFzkS qdXbA WCDhQ DbOXS tqUtK GpWVU iJYzE \" data-testid=\"prism-linkbase\" href=\"https:\/\/apnews.com\/article\/dayton-literary-peace-award-salman-rushdie-a4fc869e4b4d204cbb2a15a955b3c18b\">received a Dayton Literary Peace Prize<\/a> lifetime achievement award in November. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n<script async=\"async\" data-cfasync=\"false\" src=\"https:\/\/pl30214220.effectivecpmnetwork.com\/9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\/invoke.js\"><\/script>\r\n<div id=\"container-9ab3d4df8a7e1a6171e16ddbf732cc19\"><\/div>\r\n\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>A man was convicted Wednesday of federal terrorism charges in the 2022 stabbing of Salman Rushdie, the author who has faced a decades-old death threat over his novel \u201cThe Satanic Verses.\u201d A jury found Hadi Matar guilty of all the charges against him, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. A message seeking comment&#8230;<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":21591,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/i.abcnewsfe.com\/a\/e2e9e684-ec41-441d-8516-d2f55f3e0335\/wirestory_07d938a1224875fa7adb55886050d46d_16x9.jpg?w=1600","fifu_image_alt":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-21590","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-abc-news"],"brizy_media":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=21590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/21590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/21591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=21590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=21590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/usnews-14267fa.ingress-comporellon.ewp.live\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=21590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}