Salman Rushdie attacker faces life after terror conviction

Hadi Matar, the man who stabbed novelist Salman Rushdie at a New York cultural center in 2022, faces a maximum federal penalty of life in prison after a federal jury convicted him of engaging in an act of terrorism and supporting Hezbollah.

Matar, a 28-year-old Lebanese American, is due to be sentenced on Nov. 3. He had already been convicted of attempted murder in New York state court and sentenced to 25 years in prison.

The attack took place at the Chautauqua Institution in Mayville, New York, during a free speech conference. Matar, then 24, leapt onto the stage and stabbed Rushdie repeatedly with a six-inch blade. The stabbing nearly killed Rushdie and left him blind in one eye.

US Attorney Michael DiGiacomo said Matar spent months planning the attack and “chose to align his values with the terroristic values of the leaders of Iran.”

Federal prosecutors said Matar followed a fatwa calling for Rushdie's execution, first issued in 1989 by the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini over Rushdie's novel “The Satanic Verses.” They said investigators found Hezbollah materials at Matar's home.

Matar told a reporter before his trials that he believed Rushdie had “attacked Islam.”