US Opens Terrorism Trial in Salman Rushdie Stabbing Case

The federal terrorism trial of Hadi Matar, the man already convicted of attempting to murder Salman Rushdie in a 2022 knife attack, began on Wednesday in Buffalo, New York, with prosecutors seeking to prove that the assault was motivated by extremist ideology rather than being a standalone act of violence. If convicted on the federal charges, Matar could face life imprisonment.

Opening statements are being heard at the federal courthouse about 113 kilometres from the Chautauqua Institution, where the Booker Prize winning author was repeatedly stabbed while preparing to speak on writer safety. Rushdie, now 79, is expected to be among the first witnesses and will once again recount the attack that nearly claimed his life and left him permanently blind in one eye.

Matar, 28, is already serving a 25 year prison sentence after being convicted earlier in New York state court of attempted murder and assault. Unlike the earlier trial, which focused on the attack itself, the federal proceedings are centred on the alleged terrorist motive behind the stabbing. He has pleaded not guilty to charges including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism and attempting to provide material support to the Iran backed militant group Hezbollah.

Federal prosecutors allege Matar acted in support of the 1989 fatwa issued by Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini following the publication of Rushdie's controversial novel The Satanic Verses. Court filings say investigators recovered digital evidence, handwritten notes, research on Rushdie, and photographs of Khomeini and former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei from Matar's residence. Prosecutors argue the evidence shows he believed he was carrying out the fatwa on behalf of Hezbollah.

Rushdie, born in India, raised in Britain and now a US citizen, has spoken extensively about the lasting trauma of the attack in his memoir Knife and in interviews. Following the memoir, he returned to fiction with The Eleventh Hour and received the Dayton Literary Peace Prize Lifetime Achievement Award in 2025.