NEW YORK (AFP) – A man accused of plotting to kill author Salman Rushdie has been charged with terrorism offences for acting on behalf of Hezbollah, according to documents released on Wednesday.
This is the first time that the United States has so explicitly condemned Lebanon’s powerful Iranian-backed movement over the Rushdie attack.
Hadi Matar, 26, a Lebanese American, is already facing charges from New York state in the 2022 stabbing.
He has now been indicted by a grand jury on three counts, including one of conspiring to provide material to support a foreign terrorist organization, according to an indictment dated July 17 and which has not yet been unsealed.
In August 2022, Rushdie, now 77, lost the sight in his right eye when a knife-wielding assailant jumped onstage and attacked him at an arts rally in New York state. Rushdie was stabbed about 10 times.
‘You’re next’ – Harry Potter author Rowling receives death threats after Rushdie stabbinghttps://t.co/lvf2ZsAylM
—Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 13, 2022
The Indian-born, naturalized American and New York-based author had faced death threats since his 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses” was declared blasphemous by Iran’s supreme leader.
In 1989, its leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa (religious edict) calling on Muslims around the world to kill Rushdie.
The FBI said in a statement Wednesday that Hezbollah supported the fatwa.
“We allege that Hadi Matar attempted to assassinate Salman Rushdie in New York in 2022 and committed an act of terrorism in the name of Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization aligned with the Iranian regime,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a separate statement.
Terrorism
According to the Justice Department, between September 2020 and the summer of the attack, Matar attempted to provide material support to Hezbollah by trying to carry out a fatwa against Rushdie.
The other two counts in the indictment accuse Matar of engaging in cross-border terrorist activities and providing material support to terrorists.
“The defendant attempted to carry out a Hezbollah-backed fatwa calling for the death of Salman Rushdie,” FBI Director Christopher Wray said.
Author stabbed by Muslim wrote ‘threatening’ book that ‘demanded action’, says Irish MP https://t.co/tzaXTcON50
—Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) November 21, 2022
Hezbollah is classified as a terrorist organization by countries including the United States, European Union countries, Britain and most member states of the Arab League.
Since the war in Gaza erupted in October, Hezbollah has exchanged near-daily artillery fire with Israel from southern Lebanon, raising fears of a wider regional conflict.
“They attacked Islam.”
Matar is awaiting trial in New York on charges including attempted murder and assault, to which he has pleaded not guilty and could face up to 25 years in prison if convicted.
US media reports said the trial could begin as early as October 15.
Matar told the New York Post that he had only read two pages of Rushdie’s novel but believed it was an “attack on Islam.”
The award-winning author was stabbed in the neck and abdomen at a literary conference in New York, but attendees and security guards managed to subdue the assailant.
Video: Rushdie knifeman taken down by spectator, carrying fake ID in Hezbollah leader’s namehttps://t.co/WGGI6bc03u
—Breitbart London (@BreitbartLondon) August 13, 2022
Rushdie spent the first decade after the fatwa in seclusion in London, but for the past 20 he has lived a relatively normal life in New York.
This year, Rushdie published a memoir called “The Knife,” in which he recounted his near-death experience.
In an interview with CBS’s “60 Minutes” in April, Rushdie said that one of the surgeons who saved his life told him, “It was really unlucky at first, but then it was really lucky.”
“I said, ‘What was lucky?’ and he said, ‘What was lucky was that the man who attacked you didn’t know how to kill someone with a knife,'” Rushdie said.
