Hadi Matar, age 28, who has already served 25 years for attempting to kill Sir Salman Rushdie, has been convicted in a New York federal court of aiding the Lebanese terrorist group Hezbollah.
In a hearing held in the U.S. district court for New York, prosecutors argued that Mr. Matar’s attack stemmed from a 1989 Iranian fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death and a 2006 Hezbollah statement urging the fatwa’s enforcement. They maintained that he had plotted the assault for two years and received support from the group.
During the proceedings, the author testified before the jury, recounting how he was stabbed 15 times—through his cheek, chest, eye, neck and thigh—and how a firefighter managed to provide emergency medical care. He also lifted his glasses to reveal a blind‑eye wound, describing the “lake of blood” that surrounded him.
Mr. Matar’s counsel sought to portray the assault as a personal vendetta rather than terrorism, questioning whether Rushdie’s controversial book, The Satanic Verses, was the real target. Rushdie replied, “I don’t believe the book is on trial. Somebody else is on trial,” underscoring the legal focus on the attacker.
Besides the charge of illicit support for Hezbollah, the jury found Mr. Matar guilty of a transnational terrorism offence, potentially adding a life sentence to the 25‑year term he will continue serving at the federal level.
