US man convicted of terror offenses in Salman Rushdie attack
Hadi Matar, already serving 25 years for attempting to kill Sir Salman Rushdie, has been found guilty of providing material support to Hezbollah and could face life in prison.
A New York federal court convicted Hadi Matar on Wednesday of providing material support to Hezbollah, a US-designated terrorist group, and engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. Matar is already serving a 25-year sentence for the 2022 attempted murder of author Salman Rushdie.
Prosecutors argued Matar was motivated by a 1989 fatwa from Iran's religious leader calling for Rushdie's death, and by a 2006 speech from Hezbollah's then-leader urging enforcement of the fatwa. They said Matar planned the attack for two years.
During the trial, Rushdie testified about being stabbed 15 times, including in the face, chest, eye, neck and thigh. He described a "lake of blood" and showed jurors a wound that left him partially blind, noting the knife came "within millimetres from my brain."
Defense lawyers argued the attack was not terrorism and questioned whether Rushdie should have expected backlash over his controversial novel "The Satanic Verses." Rushdie replied: "I don't believe the book is on trial."
Matar now faces a possible life sentence in addition to his current 25-year state prison term.
