SALMAN RUSHDIE ATTACKER FACES US TERRORISM TRIAL

Hadi Matar, the man convicted of stabbing author Salman Rushdie in 2022, stood trial on federal terrorism charges in Buffalo, New York on Wednesday. Matar, 28, already serves a 25-year sentence following his May conviction on state-level attempted murder and assault charges. He denies federal charges including providing material support to terrorists and committing an act of transnational terrorism, which prosecutors say could result in a life sentence if he is convicted. Rushdie, 79, survived the attack but lost vision in one eye and suffered lasting nerve damage. The Booker Prize-winning author was expected to testify again at the federal trial.

The stabbing occurred in August 2022 when Rushdie was about to discuss writer safety at an arts retreat approximately 70 miles from Buffalo. Prosecutors argue Matar acted in service of Iran's government and the Iran-backed militia Hezbollah, following Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's 1989 fatwa calling for Rushdie's death over his novel The Satanic Verses. According to court filings, investigators found photographs of Khomeini and his successor Ali Khamenei in Matar's New Jersey bedroom, along with detailed research into how an attack might be executed. Matar's journal and electronic devices contained notes referencing Rushdie's age and stating "So NOW or NEVER!!!", prosecutors alleged. Investigators also said Matar corresponded with an Iran-based contact in the months before the stabbing and produced propaganda videos incorporating a 2006 speech by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah.

The federal trial, expected to last approximately two weeks, differs from the state case by examining Matar's alleged motives rather than focusing solely on the attack itself. Matar is a US-Lebanese dual citizen born in California, whom relatives reported became withdrawn after visiting his father in Lebanon in 2018. The case centres on whether Matar was acting under the 1989 fatwa against Rushdie or as an agent of Hezbollah.