Salman Rushdie testifies at federal terror trial over 2022 knife attack

Novelist Salman Rushdie testified on Thursday, 23 July 2026, at the federal trial of Hadi Matar, the man previously sentenced by New York state's justice system for trying to kill him with a knife in 2022.

Matar, a 28-year-old Lebanese-American, was sentenced last year to 25 years in prison for attempted murder. The attack at a New York cultural center left Rushdie blind in one eye. Matar is now on trial on terrorism charges in federal court in Buffalo, in northwestern New York.

Prosecutors allege that Matar was motivated by a 1989 fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini, then Iran's leader, after Rushdie's depiction of a fictionalised Prophet Muhammad in the novel "The Satanic Verses." Prosecutors also accuse Matar of supporting Hezbollah, the pro-Iranian Lebanese movement that the United States considers a terrorist group. Investigators found materials from the organisation at Matar's home, according to the source item.

Asked in court whether he believed Matar was motivated to carry out the fatwa, Rushdie said he had no knowledge of that but had suspicions, according to US media cited in the source item.

Rushdie spoke for nearly an hour about the assault. The source item said Matar stabbed him about 10 times with a six-inch blade as Rushdie was about to address a free-speech conference.

Matar's defense lawyers said he did not act on behalf of any terrorist organisation, even if he was angry about what they described as the blasphemous nature of "The Satanic Verses." If convicted in the federal case, Matar faces a possible life sentence.

Rushdie lived in seclusion in London for a decade after the 1989 fatwa. For about 20 years before the attack, he had lived relatively normally in New York.