A federal jury on Wednesday convicted novelist Salman Rushdie's assailant of "engaging in an act of terrorism" for the bloody August 2022 attack at a New York cultural center.
Hadi Matar, a 28-year-old Lebanese American, "chose to align his values with the terroristic values of the leaders of Iran," said US Attorney Michael DiGiacomo, adding the defendant spent months planning the stabbing that nearly killed Rushdie and left him blind in one eye.
Matar was also convicted of supporting the Iran-backed Lebanese militant group Hezbollah, after investigators found materials from the organization at his home.
Federal prosecutors said Matar followed a fatwa calling for Rushdie's execution, first issued in 1989 by the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, for fictionalizing the Prophet Muhammad in his bestselling book, "The Satanic Verses."
The fatwa was reaffirmed in 2017 by Iran's late Supreme Leader Ali Khamenei, and endorsed in a 2006 speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah, prosecutors said.
