Rushdie attacker charged with terrorism offences

This is the first time the US has so clearly singled out Lebanon’s powerful Iranian-backed movement over the attack on the writer.

Hadi Matar appears at Chautauqua County Courthouse in Mayville, New York, on August 18, 2022. Picture: AFP

The man accused of trying to kill author Salman Rushdie has been charged with terrorism for allegedly acting on behalf of Hezbollah, according to documents unsealed on Wednesday.

This is the first time the US has so clearly singled out Lebanon’s powerful Iranian-backed movement over the attack on Rushdie.

Hadi Matar, a 26-year-old American of Lebanese descent, was already charged by the state of New York for the 2022 stabbing attack.

He has now been indicted by a grand jury on three counts that include attempting to provide material to support a foreign terrorist organisation, according to the indictment dated July 17 but not unsealed until now.

In August 2022 Rushdie, now 77, lost his sight in his right eye after the attack by a knife-wielding assailant who jumped on stage at an arts gathering in New York state. Rushdie was stabbed about 10 times.

The Indian-born author, a naturalised American based in New York, had faced death threats since his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses was declared blasphemous by Iran’s supreme leader. In 1989, that leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, calling on Muslims anywhere in the world to kill Rushdie.

Hezbollah endorsed the fatwa, the FBI said on Wednesday. “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 organisation aligned with the Iranian regime,” Attorney-General Merrick Garland said.

Between September 2020 and the summer of the attack, Matar sought to provide material support to Hezbollah by trying to carry out the fatwa against Rushdie, the Justice Department said.

The other two counts in the indictment charge Matar with engaging in an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and providing material support to terrorists.

“The defendant attempted to carry out a fatwa endorsed by Hezbollah that called for the death of Salman Rushdie,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.

Hezbollah is classified as a terrorist organisation by the US. Australia had listed Hezbollah’s External Security Organisation as a terrorist organisation under the Criminal Code

Since the war in Gaza broke out in October, Hezbollah has traded almost daily fire with Israel from southern Lebanon, prompting fears of a broader regional conflict.

Matar is awaiting trial at the state level in New York on charges including attempted murder and assault. He has pleaded not guilty, and could face a sentence of up to 25 years if convicted.

US media reports say the trial could start on October 15.

Matar has told the New York Post newspaper that he had only read two pages of Rushdie’s novel but believed he had “attacked Islam”. The award-winning author was stabbed in the neck and abdomen at the New York literary conference before attendees and guards subdued the assailant.

Rushdie had lived in seclusion in London for the first decade after the fatwa was issued, but for 20 years has lived a relatively normal life in New York. This year, he published a memoir, Knife, in which he recounted the near death experience.

AFP