RESOLVING THE LEDGER
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BUFFALO, N.Y. \u2014 A man was convicted Wednesday of federal terrorism charges in the 2022 stabbing of Salman Rushdie, the author who has faced a decades-old death threat over his novel "The Satanic Verses."After just a couple of hours of deliberations, a jury found Hadi Matar guilty of all the charges against him, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism.Rushdie, who was about to speak on writers' safety, was slashed 15 times on an amphitheater stage in 2022. He was gravely wounded and lost sight in his right eye.Prosecutors asserted that Matar was motivated by the late Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini's 1989 call for Rushdie's death because of "The Satanic Verses.""His brutal attack on Mr. Rushdie during a peaceful speaking event is a chilling reminder of the global reach of Iranian terrorism," Assistant Attorney General for National Security John Eisenberg said in a statement after the verdict, adding that "justice has been done." Iran's government has denied involvement in the attack.Matar's defense: No evidence of his state of mindMessages seeking comment on the verdict were sent to Matar's attorneys and Rushdie's assistant. During the trial, defense lawyer Nathaniel Barone said the government had no proof of what was in Matar's head.Matar himself declined to testify. Rushdie did, telling jurors: "I can't say what his ambitions or his aim was, but the wounds were dispersed across my body."Matar, 28, is already serving a 25-year New York state prison sentence on an attempted murder conviction in the stabbing. His federal sentencing is set for Nov. 3, when he faces a potential life term.Rushdie won Britain's prestigious Booker Prize for his 1981 novel "Midnight's Children," about his native India. "The Satanic Verses," a novel of magical realism about the lives and dreams of two actors who survive a plane explosion, followed in 1988.It drew critical acclaim in the United Kingdom but engendered protests around the Muslim world over what some believers saw as blasphemous suggestions about Islam's Prophet Muhammad, particularly in a dream sequence. Over the ensuing years, at least 45 people were killed in riots over the book, a Japanese translator was stabbed to death, and an Italian translator and Norwegian publisher were attacked.Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim family, has said the dream sequence was just that. But he went into hiding for years, gradual
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