Islamist who knifed Salman Rushdie on stage convicted of all-new string of terror offences

An Islamist who attempted to stab Sir Salman Rushdie to death on stage has been convicted of of all-new string of terror offences.

Hadi Matar, 28, stabbed the award-winning author over a dozen times in 2022 as he was about to deliver a lecture in upstate New York, leaving him blind in one eye and his left hand paralysed.

The Islamist was already serving 25 years in prison for attempted murder, but a New York federal court convicted him of providing assistance to Lebanese terror group Hezbollah on Wednesday.

Matar was inspired to carry out the stabbing following an Islamic fatwa issued by the Iranian Supreme Leader in 1989 after Sir Salman published controversial novel The Satanic Verses, prosecutors argued.

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During the trial, Sir Salman testified before the court, recounting the day of the knife attack in detail before hailing a fireman for saving his life by providing immediate first aid.

Matar was convicted of engaging in an act of transnational terrorism and providing material support to Hezbollah by a jury.

Inside the courtroom in Buffalo, jurors were told that the Islamist had been plotting the attack for two years after watching a speech delivered by a then-leader of Hezbollah in 2006, which called for Sir Salman to be killed.

In his closing statement, Assistant US Attorney Timothy Lynch said: "The defendant decided no one was going to do it, so he had to do it.

"The defendant is the one who answered that call."

Describing the attack in court, Sir Salman said: "I was on the stage, lying down, with an enormous pool of blood all around me.

"It was an enormous and expansive lake of blood."

The award-winning author said Matar's blade came "within millimetres from my brain", as he removed the darkened lenses from his glasses to reveal the injury sustained to his eye.

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Matar's defence lawayers argued that the 28-year-old Islamist had not been inspired by terrorism and probed Sir Salman on whether he should have anticipated a furious reaction after publishing his novel in 1988.

The author replied: "I don't believe the book is on trial. Somebody else is on trial."

Sir Salman's work sparked anger in large parts of the Islamic world after it was inspired by the life of Muhammed, with many considering its contents to amount to blasphemy.

In Britain, the publishing of the novel led to rioting in Bradford - with police officers injured, vehicles destroyed and copies of the book burned in scenes of violent unrest.

Across the globe, there were 49 deaths linked to The Satanic Verses - including assassinations carried out on foreign translators and publishers of the novel.

After the book was released, Sir Salman was forced into hiding for almost a decade.

The Indian-born British author wrote a memoir about his attempted assassination and journey to recovery, called Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.

In 2025, the 79-year-old published his first book since almost losing his life, as he returned to the world of fiction with The Eleventh Hour.

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