Man Who Attacked Salman Rushdie Faces Terrorism Charges in Federal Trial

In August 2022, a young man gripping a knife rushed onstage at an idyllic retreat in Western New York. His eyes were trained on the author Salman Rushdie.

The man, Hadi Matar, had been enraged by the work of Mr. Rushdie, who had long been a target of Islamic extremists. In 1989, the government of Iran called for Mr. Rushdie’s killing after he published “The Satanic Verses,” a novel that depicted a fictionalized version of the Prophet Muhammad, outraging many Muslims.

In his notebook, federal prosecutors said, Mr. Matar had scribbled out the pros and cons of attacking Mr. Rushdie, and how and where to do it. A reason to do it now, he wrote in his journal, was that Mr. Rushdie was at an advanced age and could die “any day now.”

“So NOW or NEVER!!!” he wrote.

He stabbed Mr. Rushdie more than a dozen times, leaving him with severe nerve damage and blind in one eye. Mr. Rushdie was preparing to deliver a speech to more than 1,000 people at the Chautauqua Institution, focusing on writers in political exile.

Read more: New York Times