Jury Convicts Hadi Matar on Federal Terrorism Charges for 2022 Attack on Salman Rushdie

A federal jury in Buffalo, New York, returned guilty verdicts on Wednesday for Hadi Matar on all counts, including an act of transnational terrorism, related to the August 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie. The deliberations lasted only a few hours before jurors concluded that Matar had planned and carried out the attack.

Rushdie was delivering a speech on writers' safety when he was slashed 15 times on stage, sustaining serious injuries and losing sight in his right eye. He later testified that he could not determine the attacker’s motives, noting the wounds were spread across his body.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Matar was motivated by the 1989 fatwa issued by Iran’s late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, which called for Rushdie’s death over his novel "The Satanic Verses." Messages recovered from Matar’s phone showed him expressing anger toward Rushdie and referencing a jihad against the author. U.S. Attorney Michael DiGiacomo said Matar spent months planning the assault, and Assistant U.S. Attorney Timothy Lynch cited a note in which Matar wrote, "We need to kill him ASAP."

Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said the verdict demonstrates that "justice has been done" and highlighted the case as an example of the reach of Iranian-linked terrorism, though Iran has denied involvement. Matar, who is already serving a 25-year New York state sentence for attempted murder, faces a federal sentencing hearing on Nov. 3, where he could receive a life term.

The case revisits the decades-long controversy surrounding "The Satanic Verses," which sparked protests and violent attacks on translators and publishers worldwide after its 1988 publication. While the Iranian government officially distanced itself from the fatwa in 1998, later statements by Iranian leaders indicated it remained in effect, and a Iranian foundation has offered a multi-million-dollar bounty for Rushdie’s killing.

Rushdie, a Booker Prize winner and knighted author, has continued to write, publishing a memoir about the attack in 2024 and a novel, "The Eleventh Hour," in 2023. He received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize lifetime achievement award in November.