Author Salman Rushdie's attacker found guilty in federal terrorism trial

A US federal jury on Wednesday (July 29) convicted Hadi Matar, the man who stabbed acclaimed author Salman Rushdie in 2022, on terrorism-related charges linked to the attack that left the novelist permanently blinded in one eye.

The jury found the 28-year-old guilty on all federal counts against him, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. The conviction carries a potential life sentence. Matar is already serving a 25-year prison sentence after being convicted in New York state court of attempted murder over the August 2022 attack.

Rushdie was about to deliver a talk on writers' safety at an amphitheatre in New York when Matar rushed onto the stage and stabbed him 15 times in front of a shocked audience. The attack left the British-American author critically injured and resulted in the loss of sight in his right eye.

The federal case focused on terrorism-related charges stemming from the high-profile assault, which came decades after Rushdie faced death threats following the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses.

The verdict marks the latest legal development in one of the most widely condemned attacks on a writer in recent years.