The man accused of attempting to kill author Salman Rushdie has been charged with terrorism for allegedly acting on behalf of Hezbollah, according to documents released on Wednesday.
This marks the first time the United States has explicitly linked Lebanon’s powerful Iranian-backed group to the attack on Rushdie.
Hadi Matar, a 26-year-old American of Lebanese descent, was previously charged by New York State for the 2022 stabbing incident. He has now been indicted by a grand jury on three counts, including attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, as detailed in the indictment dated July 17, which was only recently made public.
In August 2022, Rushdie, 77, was attacked by Matar while speaking at an arts event in New York. The assailant, armed with a knife, stabbed Rushdie approximately ten times, resulting in the loss of vision in Rushdie’s right eye.
Rushdie, an Indian-born author who became a naturalized American citizen and resides in New York, had been the target of death threats since the publication of his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses,” which Iran’s supreme leader declared blasphemous. In 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling for Rushdie’s death. Hezbollah endorsed this fatwa, according to the FBI.
Attorney General Merrick Garland stated, “We allege that in attempting to murder Salman Rushdie in New York in 2022, Hadi Matar committed an act of terrorism in the name of Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization aligned with the Iranian regime.”
The indictment accuses Matar of attempting to support Hezbollah by executing the fatwa against Rushdie between September 2020 and the summer of the attack. The charges also include engaging in an act of terrorism that transcends national boundaries and providing material support to terrorists.
FBI Director Christopher Wray emphasized that Matar attempted to carry out a fatwa endorsed by Hezbollah calling for Rushdie’s death.
Hezbollah is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, the UK, and most members of the Arab League. The group has been involved in ongoing conflicts with Israel since the war in Gaza began in October, raising concerns of a broader regional conflict.
Matar is currently awaiting trial in New York on state charges including attempted murder and assault, to which he has pleaded not guilty. If convicted, he faces a possible sentence of up to 25 years. The trial is expected to begin on October 15.
Matar has claimed to the New York Post that he had read only two pages of Rushdie’s novel but believed it “attacked Islam.”
Rushdie was attacked at a New York literary conference, where attendees and security personnel subdued Matar. Despite living under the threat of the fatwa, Rushdie had led a relatively normal life in New York for the past 20 years after spending the first decade in seclusion in London.
Rushdie’s memoir, “Knife,” published this year, recounts his near-fatal experience. In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” in April, Rushdie shared that one of the surgeons who saved his life remarked on his unusual luck, noting, “The lucky part is that the man who attacked you had no idea how to kill a man with a knife.”
