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A man has been found guilty in a federal terrorism prosecution tied to the stabbing of author Salman Rushdie four years ago, according to the Justice Department.
The Justice Department said in a Wednesday press release that 28-year-old Hadi Matar of Fairview, N.J., had been convicted by a federal jury of trying to give Hezbollah material support, engaging in an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and providing material support to terrorists.
Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said Matar spent “more than a year immersing himself” in the ideology of Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist organization, and “preparing to act on a fatwa issued by Iran’s Ayatollahs calling for Mr. Rushdie’s murder.”
“His brutal attack on Mr. Rushdie during a peaceful speaking event is a chilling reminder of the global reach of Iranian terrorism. With today’s verdict, justice has been done, and Matar will pay for his crimes,” Eisenberg continued.
Before Rushdie was supposed to present a lecture in New York in August 2022, he was stabbed in the neck. The author’s co-moderator was also wounded; however, Rushdie’s injuries were more serious, and he had to be placed on a ventilator.
Rushdie’s late-1980s work, “The Satanic Verses,” resulted in global controversy because many Muslims saw it as blasphemous. Former Iranian Supreme Leader Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa ordering Muslims to end Rushdie’s life in 1989 over the work.
Per the Justice Department, government evidence showed that for more than a year, Matar researched the fatwa prior to his attempt to go through with it in 2022. The department said that the maximum penalty for Matar could be life imprisonment upon sentencing in November.
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