Man convicted in terrorism trial over the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie
Hadi Matar has been convicted of federal terrorism charges for the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie. The attack, which left Rushdie blind in one eye, was linked by prosecutors to a decades-old fatwa issued by Iran's former leader.
Why it matters
The verdict highlights the ongoing global security implications of long-standing political and religious threats against public figures.
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 "The Satanic Verses."
After just a couple of hours of deliberations, a jury found Hadi Matar guilty of all the charges against him, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism.
Rushdie, who was about to speak on writers' safety, was slashed 15 times on an amphitheater stage in 2022. He was gravely wounded and lost the sight in his right eye.
Prosecutors asserted that Matar was motivated by the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini 's 1989 call for Rushdie's death because of "The Satanic Verses."
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