Federal Jury Convicts Salman Rushdie's Attacker on Terrorism and Hezbollah Support Charges
A New York federal court found Hadi Matar guilty of providing material support to Hezbollah and committing transnational terrorism. The 28-year-old now faces a possible life sentence following his previous state conviction for attempted murder.
Federal Conviction Links Stabbing to Global Terror Faction
Hadi Matar, the man currently serving a quarter-century sentence for the 2025 attempted murder of Sir Salman Rushdie, now faces life in prison following a federal conviction in Buffalo, New York. On Wednesday, a jury found the 28-year-old guilty of engaging in transnational terrorism and providing material support to Hezbollah, the Lebanese militant group designated as a terrorist organization by the United States and United Kingdom.
Evidence of a Multi-Year Plot
Federal prosecutors successfully argued that Matar spent two years planning the assault, driven by a 1989 religious edict and a subsequent 2006 speech by Hezbollah's leadership demanding the fatwa against Rushdie be enforced. Assistant US Attorney Timothy Lynch told the court that Matar took the initiative to act when others did not, effectively answering a decades-old call for violence. Jurors reviewed video evidence created by Matar as part of the orchestration leading up to the attack.
Author Testifies on Near-Fatal Injuries
During the proceedings, Sir Salman Rushdie offered harrowing testimony regarding the 15 stab wounds he sustained to his neck, chest, eye, cheek, and thigh. The author described lying in an "expansive lake of blood" on the stage and credited a firefighter's immediate medical intervention with saving his life. In a striking moment for the court, Rushdie removed the darkened lens of his glasses to show the damage to his eye, noting the blade stopped only millimeters from his brain. When defense attorneys suggested the author should have anticipated blowback from his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses, Rushdie countered that his book was not the entity on trial.
- Defendant: Hadi Matar, age 28.
- New Convictions: Transnational terrorism, material support for Hezbollah.
- Potential Penalty: Life imprisonment.
- Previous Sentencing: 25 years for state-level attempted murder.
Source: BBC — World
