Hadi Matar, the 26-year-old accused of attacking author Salman Rushdie in 2022, has declined a plea deal that would have reduced his state prison term but subjected him to a federal terrorism-related charge. Matar, who has been held without bail since the incident, allegedly stabbed Rushdie over a dozen times, resulting in the author being blinded in one eye. The attack occurred while Rushdie was preparing to give a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in western New York.
The plea agreement, rejected by Matar in Mayville, New York, would have required him to plead guilty to attempted murder in exchange for a maximum state prison sentence of 20 years, reduced from 25 years. Additionally, it would have mandated a guilty plea to a federal charge of attempting to provide material support to a designated terrorist organization, which could carry an additional 20-year sentence.
Matar’s attorney, Nathaniel Barone, confirmed the rejection of the deal. Matar, a resident of Fairview, New Jersey, was born in the U.S. but holds dual citizenship in Lebanon, where his parents were born. His mother noted that he became withdrawn and moody after visiting his father in Lebanon in 2018.
Salman Rushdie, the acclaimed writer targeted by the attack, spent years in hiding following a 1989 fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini over his novel "The Satanic Verses," which some Muslims consider blasphemous. Rushdie reemerged into public life in the late 1990s and has been traveling freely for the past two decades.
In his memoir, Rushdie described seeing a man running towards him in the amphitheater, where he was about to speak on the importance of protecting writers. Rushdie is listed as a witness for Matar’s upcoming trial. Representatives for Rushdie have not immediately responded to requests for comment.
