Salman Rushdie Attacker Convicted of Terrorism: Hadi Matar Verdict

Hadi Matar, a 28-year-old American-Lebanese man, stabbed author Salman Rushdie on stage at the Chautauqua Institution in Mayville, New York, on August 12, 2022. Matar attacked Rushdie with a knife as the author was about to give a talk on writers' safety, slashing him 15 times. Rushdie survived but lost the sight in his right eye.

Yes. On July 30, 2026, a federal jury in Buffalo, New York convicted Hadi Matar on all counts of terrorism for the 2022 stabbing. The jury deliberated only two hours before returning the verdict. Matar was found guilty of: attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah (a US-designated terrorist organisation backed by Iran); engaging in terrorism transcending national boundaries; and providing material support to terrorists.

Matar faces two separate sentences. He is already serving 25 years in prison from a New York state conviction for attempted murder, handed down in May 2025. Following the July 30, 2026 federal terrorism conviction, he faces a maximum penalty of life in prison. His federal sentencing is scheduled for November 3, 2026, in Buffalo, New York.

Salman Rushdie survived the August 2022 stabbing but suffered severe injuries: he lost the sight in his right eye and sustained injuries to his liver and to one hand. He was hospitalised for weeks and underwent multiple surgeries. Rushdie has since recovered sufficiently to continue writing and making public appearances. He published a memoir about the attack, titled 'Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder', in 2024.

Prosecutors said Matar spent more than a year immersing himself in Hezbollah's ideology and preparing to act on a fatwa, a religious ruling, issued by Iran's Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 calling for Rushdie's murder. The fatwa was issued after Rushdie's 1988 novel The Satanic Verses was deemed blasphemous by many Muslims. Matar's motivation, as established at trial, was to carry out a religiously-motivated political assassination in support of Iran-backed Hezbollah.

The Satanic Verses is a 1988 novel by Salman Rushdie that caused a major international controversy. Many Muslims considered certain passages blasphemous toward Islam. In February 1989, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie's death, forcing the British-Indian author into hiding under police protection for years. The 1989 fatwa was never formally withdrawn, and in 1998 Iran's government stated it would not enforce it, but did not rescind it. The bounty on Rushdie's head continued to be promoted by hardline Iranian groups.

Hezbollah is a Lebanon-based militant group and political party founded in the early 1980s with strong backing from Iran's Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps. It is designated as a terrorist organisation by the United States, the European Union, and several other countries. Hezbollah has carried out numerous attacks and is considered one of the most powerful non-state armed groups in the world. Iran funds and trains the group.

Prosecutors presented evidence that Matar had researched the 1989 fatwa extensively online, sought out Hezbollah materials, and planned the attack over more than a year. He traveled to the Chautauqua Institution in upstate New York and attacked Rushdie on stage in front of an audience of hundreds. He was apprehended immediately at the scene. The jury convicted him on all three federal terrorism counts after just two hours of deliberation.

Salman Rushdie (born 1947) is a British-Indian novelist widely regarded as one of the most significant English-language authors of the 20th and 21st centuries. He is best known for Midnight's Children (1981, Booker Prize) and The Satanic Verses (1988). He was knighted by Queen Elizabeth II in 2007. After the 1989 fatwa, he lived under UK police protection for nearly a decade. He is a US citizen and had lived publicly in New York City for many years before the 2022 attack.