Khomeini Fatwa: Salman Rushdie attacker convicted of terrorism, attempted murder in 2022 stabbing
A U.S. jury on Wednesday convicted Hadi Matar of terrorism-related offences and the attempted murder of Indian-British novelist Salman Rushdie, to fulfil a fatwa issued by former Iranian Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989.
In 2006, Hassan Nasrallah, secretary general of Hezbollah, a U.S.-designated terrorist group, backed the fatwa. Mr Khomeini died, but his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, reiterated the fatwa in 2017, calling for Mr Rushdie’s execution over opinions expressed in his novel.
Prosecutors found evidence that Mr Matar, 28, had spent over a year researching the decades-old fatwa to determine its validity before trying to murder Mr Rushdie in New York. They also found proof that he consulted individuals in Iran, Australia and Canada on how to carry out the murder at an event in New York in August 2022.
Mr Matar is scheduled to be sentenced on November 3 before U.S. district judge Richard Arcara. The maximum penalty for his terrorism-related crime is life imprisonment.
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