Hadi Matar, a 28-year-old Lebanese American man from New Jersey, was convicted Wednesday on federal terrorism charges for the 2022 stabbing of author Salman Rushdie. A federal jury found Matar guilty of all charges, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. The conviction includes findings that Matar attempted to help Hezbollah by attacking the British-Indian author.
The assault took place in August 2022 at a New York arts institute, where Rushdie was about to deliver a speech on writers' safety. Matar repeatedly stabbed the author in front of a stunned audience, inflicting 15 wounds. The attack nearly killed Rushdie and left him blind in one eye.
The 79-year-old Rushdie has faced threats on his life since the 1988 publication of his novel The Satanic Verses. Matar is already serving a 25-year prison sentence and was found guilty of these additional terrorism-related charges.