Man accused of stabbing author Salman Rushdie dismissed a legal settlement On Tuesday, that would have shortened his state prison sentence but exposed him to a federal terrorism-related charge, the suspect’s lawyer said.
Hadi Matar, 26, has been held without bail since the 2022 attack in which he is accused of stabbing Rushdie more than a dozen times and blinding him in one eye while the acclaimed writer was on stage, about to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York.
Matar’s attorney, Nathaniel Barone, confirmed that Matar, who lived in Fairview, New Jersey, rejected the deal Tuesday in Mayville, New York.
The deal would have had Matar plead guilty in Chautauqua County to attempted murder in exchange for a maximum state prison sentence of 20 years, down from 25 years. It also would have required him to plead guilty to a federal charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, which could have resulted in an additional 20 years, the lawyers said.
Rushdie, who detailed the attack and its recovery in a book of memoriesspent years in hiding after Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or decree, in 1989, calling for his death because of Rushdie’s novel “The Satanic Verses,” which some Muslims consider blasphemy. The author resurfaced to the public in the late 1990s and has traveled freely over the past two decades.
Matar was born in the US, but has dual citizenship in Lebanon, where his parents were born. Her mother said her son became withdrawn and moody after visiting his father in Lebanon in 2018.
Rushdie wrote in his memoirs that he saw a man running towards him in the amphitheater, where he was about to speak about the importance of keeping writers safe from harm. the author is on the witness list for Matar’s next trial.
Representatives for Rushdie did not immediately respond to an emailed request for comment.
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