A 26-year-old man accused in the knife attack against author Salman Rushdie in 2022 has been indicted on three counts of terrorism for his alleged support of Hezbollah, according to the Department of Justice (DOJ).
Hadi Matar, of Fairview, New Jersey, was arraigned on July 24 for allegedly attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, engaging in an act of terrorism, and providing material support to terrorists, according to an indictment.
The DOJ indicated that Mr. Matar was trying to carry out a fatwa, or edict, endorsed by Hezbollah, in his attack against Mr. Rushdie.
“The defendant attempted to carry out a fatwa endorsed by Hezbollah that called for the death of Salman Rushdie—a fatwa issued in 1989 by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini,” said FBI Director Christopher Wray in a press release.
“Violence directed at Americans for exercising their First Amendment rights will never be tolerated,” said Mr. Wray, adding that the “FBI will work with our partners to pursue and hold accountable those who resort to violence.”
Mr. Rushdie was targeted for decades after he wrote the book, “The Satanic Verses,” and was accused of insulting the Islamic faith.
The author was attacked in New York in 2022, allegedly by Mr. Matar. He survived but lost an eye.
“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,” said Attorney General Merrick B. Garland in a press release.
“The Justice Department will prosecute those who perpetrate violence in the name of terrorist groups and undermine the basic freedoms enshrined in our Constitution.”
Mr. Matar, according to court documents, attempted to provide material support and resources to the designated terrorist group Hezbollah between September 2020 and August 2022 by carrying out a fatwa, which called for the execution of Mr. Rushdie.
“This defendant put time and effort into traveling to the Western District of New York with the intent of taking the life of another,” said U.S. Attorney Trini E. Ross for the Western District of New York in a press statement.
According to the DOJ, Mr. Matar was partly motivated by a 2006 speech given by Hezbollah secretary-general Hassan Nasrallah, in which he endorsed the original fatwa from 1989 calling for Mr. Rushdie’s death.
Mr. Rushdie wrote a memoir titled “Knife” after his assault. The opening paragraph reads, “At a quarter to eleven on August 12, 2022, on a sunny Friday morning in upstate New York, I was attacked and almost killed by a young man with a knife just after I came out on stage at the amphitheater in Chautauqua to talk about the importance of keeping writers safe from harm.”
If convicted, Mr. Matar faces a maximum penalty of life in prison.
