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Convicted assailant of author Salman Rushdie found guilty of federal terrorism charges

From Jerusalem Post · () English

Summarized and contextualized by DistantNews.

At a glance

News From a news agency Outcome reported
  • Hadi Matar, 28, was convicted on federal terrorism charges for attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah and engaging in transnational terrorism.
  • The conviction stems from the 2022 attack on author Salman Rushdie, for which Matar had already been found guilty of attempted murder in New York state court.
  • Matar researched the fatwa against Rushdie for over a year before carrying out the attack, which left the author partially blinded and requiring extensive recovery.

A federal jury convicted Hadi Matar on Wednesday of terrorism charges related to the 2022 attack on author Salman Rushdie. Matar, 28, was found guilty of attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization, and engaging in transnational terrorism. The jury deliberated for just two hours before returning the verdict in US District Court in Buffalo, New York.

attempting to provide material support to Lebanon's Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah, as well as engaging in transnational terrorism and providing material support to terrorists.

— Federal ProsecutorsDescribing the charges on which Hadi Matar was convicted.

Rushdie, 79, has faced death threats since the 1988 publication of his novel "The Satanic Verses," which Iran's supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini deemed blasphemous, issuing a fatwa calling for his death. Evidence presented at trial indicated Matar spent over a year researching this fatwa before attacking Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in Mayville, New York.

The attack on Rushdie was planned for over a year

— ReutersHeadline summarizing the planning behind the attack.

The attack left Rushdie stabbed multiple times, resulting in blindness in his right eye and severe injuries requiring months of recovery and emergency surgery. Matar, a US citizen from New Jersey, was previously convicted of attempted murder in New York state court in 2025 and sentenced to 25 years. His federal conviction carries a maximum penalty of life in prison, with sentencing scheduled for November 3.

Matar spent more than a year researching the fatwa before deciding to try fulfilling the edict with an attack on Rushdie

— Evidence presented at his trialDetailing the defendant's premeditation.
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Originally published by Jerusalem Post. Summarized and contextualized by our editorial team with added local perspective. Read our editorial standards.

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