Hadi Matar, the man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie more than a dozen times on stage at an event in western New York in 2022, was convicted on Wednesday, July 30th, 2026, of federal terrorism charges. A federal jury in Buffalo took less than two hours to convict Matar of attempting to provide material support to the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist group, committing an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries, and providing material support to terrorists, Reuters reported.

Matar, 28, is already serving a 25-year sentence after a state court conviction for attempted murder related to the attack that left Rushdie blind in one eye and with nerve damage. The attack was found to be an attempt to carry out a fatwa issued by Iran’s government against Rushdie more than 30 years earlier. Although Iran’s government later distanced itself from the fatwa, Khomeini's successor, Ali Khamenei, reaffirmed it in 2017, according to Reuters citing U.S. sources.

Prosecutors presented evidence of Matar's devotion to Hezbollah, including a photo of him wearing a Hezbollah shirt while making a salute, an essay praising the group, and a video using remarks from a former Hezbollah leader, as reported by the Times.

Rushdie described the attack to "60 Minutes" host Anderson Cooper in April 2024: "I saw the man in black running towards me, down the right-hand side of the seating area: Black clothes, black face mask – he was coming in hard and low, a squat missile."

FMR Counterterrorism Analyst Jonathan Schanzer highlighted the broader terror threat, noting connections such as the Michigan synagogue attack suspect Ayman Mohamad Ghazali’s inspiration from Hezbollah and family ties to a Hezbollah commander who was killed. Schanzer emphasized the need for vigilant monitoring of potential sleeper cells in the U.S.

Rushdie reflected on the attack, saying, "I confess, I had sometimes imagined my assassin rising up in some public forum or other and coming for me in this way."

Matar reportedly wanted to be "forever revered as a Hezbollah martyr," according to prosecutors.

Sources