Iranian Terror Plot EXPOSED — Attacker Finally Convicted in Chilling Case

Liberty Check

• Federal jury convicts Iran-inspired terrorist who attempted to execute decades-old fatwa against British author
• Prosecutors prove radical Islamic terrorism connection despite defense claims of independent action
• Case exposes Iran’s ongoing campaign of international terror and influence over radicalized individuals on American soil

A federal jury in Buffalo took less than two hours Wednesday to convict the man who brutally stabbed author Salman Rushdie more than a dozen times on stage, finding him guilty of attempting to carry out a terrorist fatwa issued by Iran’s government more than three decades ago. The verdict represents a significant victory in the fight against radical Islamic terrorism operating within U.S. borders.

Hadi Matar, 28, now faces life in prison after being convicted on all three federal terrorism charges. He was found guilty of attempting to provide material support to the Iran-backed Hezbollah terrorist organization, committing an act of terrorism that transcended national boundaries, and providing material support to terrorists.

The conviction comes after Matar was already sentenced to 25 years in state prison last year for attempted murder in the August 12, 2022 attack that left Rushdie blind in one eye with permanent nerve damage. Federal prosecutors successfully demonstrated that this wasn’t merely a random act of violence — it was calculated terrorism driven by Iranian influence.

Federal prosecutors presented compelling evidence that Matar had been consumed by rage over Rushdie’s 1988 novel “The Satanic Verses,” which portrayed a fictionalized version of Muhammad that many Muslims viewed as blasphemous. More critically, they proved Matar spent over a year studying a religious edict issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 that called on Muslims worldwide to kill Rushdie.

While Iran’s government initially appeared to back away from the fatwa, Khomeini’s successor, Ali Khamenei, brazenly reaffirmed it in 2017. This reaffirmation proved essential to prosecutors’ case that Iran continued to actively promote violence against an author living in the United States.

Matar, born in America but holding Lebanese citizenship, turned to radical Islam after visiting the Middle East years before the attack. His radicalization represents a troubling pattern of homegrown terrorists inspired by foreign terrorist organizations operating with impunity.

On that summer day in 2022, Rushdie was speaking at the Chautauqua Institution in Mayville, New York, when Matar rushed the stage and repeatedly stabbed the Indian-born author in the head, neck, torso and left hand in front of a horrified audience.

During the federal trial, prosecutors acknowledged that Matar never directly contacted anyone in Hezbollah. However, they successfully argued that without Iran’s fatwa, he would never have been motivated to attempt murder — making him an instrument of Iranian state-sponsored terrorism.

Jurors reviewed Matar’s own handwritten notes referencing “Jihad” and the “need to kill him ASAP.” Defense attorney Nathaniel L. Barone II attempted to argue his client acted independently and wasn’t controlled by Hezbollah, but the evidence painted a different picture.

Prosecutors demolished that defense by presenting photographs of Matar wearing a Hezbollah shirt while making a salute, an essay he wrote praising the terrorist organization, and a video he created using remarks from a former Hezbollah leader. The evidence clearly demonstrated his devotion to the Iranian-backed terror group.

“He wanted to be forever revered as a Hezbollah martyr,”

federal prosecutor Timothy Lynch told the jury in his closing statement.

Rushdie himself testified at the trial, describing the attack as something that transported him back to the “distant past” when he spent a decade in hiding after the original fatwa was issued. In a 2024 interview, he recalled the terrifying moment with chilling clarity.

“I saw the man in black running towards me, down the right-hand side of the seating area: black clothes, black face mask – he was coming in hard and low, a squat missile,”

Rushdie told “60 Minutes.”

“I confess, I had sometimes imagined my assassin rising up in some public forum or other and coming for me in this way.”

The successful prosecution exposes how Iran continues to export radical Islamic terrorism to American soil through propaganda and religious edicts that inspire radicalized individuals to carry out acts of violence. Matar’s sentencing is scheduled for November 3, where he could receive a life sentence.

It’s time to push back.