The young American of Lebanese origin who tried to kill the American-British writer Salman Rushdie in New York State in August 2022 has been charged with “ terrorism in the name of Hezbollah “, the U.S. Justice Department announced Wednesday.
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“ In trying to kill Salman Rushdie (in the State) of New York in 2022, Hadi Matar committed an act of terrorism on behalf of Hezbollah, a terrorist organization linked to the Iranian regime ” thundered the Minister of Justice in a press release.
Hadi Matar, 26, who has already been prosecuted and detained for nearly two years by the local justice system in New York State, is now being prosecuted at the federal level on three counts, including “ support for a foreign terrorist organization “, according to a court document dated July 17 and made public Wednesday by the federal court in western New York state.
On August 12, 2022, at the start of a literary conference in western New York, Salman Rushdie had been stabbed on stage about ten times in the neck, face and stomach by Hadi Matar, who had been subdued. After a long convalescence, Salman Rushdie, 77, lost the sight in one eye.
Based in New York City for over 20 years and a naturalized American citizen, this world-famous British writer of Indian origin has faced death threats since the publication of his novel in 1988. The Satanic Versesdeemed blasphemous by the Iranian supreme leader who had issued a fatwa against him.
Read alsoSalman Rushdie’s “The Knife,” a tale of assault and an ode to literature