The man who attacked author Salman Rushdie in New York has been charged with supporting a terrorist group.
Hadi Matar is accused of providing support to Hezbollah, a militant group from Lebanon. This charge comes after he turned down a plea deal that could have shortened his prison sentence if he pleaded guilty to attempted murder and assault.
Now, both his state and federal cases will go to trial separately. Jury selection for the state case starts on October 15.
Matar, 26, has been in jail without bail since the 2022 attack. He stabbed Rushdie multiple times during a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution, blinding the author in one eye. The event moderator, Henry Reese, was also hurt.
Rushdie wrote about the attack and his recovery in a memoir published in April. He had previously spent years in hiding after Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini called for his death in 1989 over his novel “The Satanic Verses.”
Matar, who was born in the U.S. but also has Lebanese citizenship, lived in New Jersey before the attack. His mother said he became withdrawn after visiting his father in Lebanon in 2018.
The attack raised concerns about Rushdie’s security, given ongoing death threats against him. In the past, translators and publishers of “The Satanic Verses” have also been attacked.
Investigators are looking into whether Matar acted alone or with the help of militant or religious groups.
