Terrorism trial opens for man who stabbed Salman Rushdie

The man convicted of trying to kill Salman Rushdie is going on trial again, this time in a federal terrorism case probing deeper into what allegedly motivated the stabbing on a lecture stage in 2022. This was reported by Qazaqyia.kz citing Associated Press.

Opening statements are set for Wednesday, July 22, at the federal courthouse in Buffalo, New York, about 70 miles (113 km) from the arts retreat where the renowned author and free-speech advocate was attacked.

The Booker Prize-winning Rushdie, now 79, is expected to be among the first witnesses, again describing the stabbing that nearly killed him and left him blind in one eye. He has recounted the moment and his lengthy recovery in testimony at Matar's state-court trial, in a memoir, and in multiple interviews.

"The thing that happens when you get really a close-up look at death — it stays with you," he told the Associated Press in 2024.

Matar, 28, already is serving a 25-year New York state prison sentence for attempted murder and assault. The state case focused on the knife attack details; the federal one delves into motive.

Matar has pleaded not guilty to federal charges including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. If convicted, he faces a potential life sentence.

Prosecutors have argued he was acting out of loyalty to Iran's theocratic government and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group after the Islamic Republic's late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini called for Rushdie's death over his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses."

Matar's electronics contained information on the fatwa seeking Rushdie's death, and he kept a journal and sticky notes logging his research on Rushdie and possible ways and places to kill him, prosecutors said in a 2025 court filing. In Matar's New Jersey bedroom, federal agents found photos of Khomeini and now-deceased successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei.

"When he attempted to carry out the fatwa, he believed he was doing so on behalf of" Hezbollah, which the U.S. government designates as a terrorist organization, an assistant U.S. attorney said.