On July 29, 2026, the US District Court for the Western District of New York (Buffalo, New York), convicted an American national, Hadi Matar, of Lebanese descent on charges of federal terrorism in the August 12, 2022, stabbing of author Salman Rushdie in New York. US Attorney Michael DiGiacomo, stated, “Hadi Matar, who was born and raised in the United States, chose to align his values with the terroristic values of the leaders of Iran, which often promote violence, and in this case, the call for murder.”
Matar attempted to murder Rushdie in an effort to carry out a fatwa (Islamic ruling) calling for his execution because of his novel, The Satanic Verses, published in 1988. Assistant Attorney General for National Security John A. Eisenberg added, “His brutal attack on Rushdie during a peaceful speaking event is a chilling reminder of the global reach of Iranian terrorism. With today’s verdict, justice has been done, and Matar will pay for his crimes,”
Matar also created videos about the fatwa, with titles such as “Rushdie_Fatwa 2.0” and “Rushdie_Fatwa 1.6”, which combined videos about the fatwa with the video of Hassan Nasrallah endorsing the fatwa in 2006. Nasrallah, ‘secretary-general’ of Hezbollah from 1992 until his death in 2024, did publicly endorse Iran’s edict against Salman Rushdie and supported violence against those deemed to have insulted Islam.
Rushdie faced extreme threats after publishing his novel, in 1988, which led to Iran’s then Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, declaring Rushdie’s novel as blasphemous on February 14, 1989, and issueing a fatwa ordering the execution of its author and all those involved in its publication. The fatwa was originally read out on the state-run Tehran Radio, quoting the Ayatollah saying:
I inform the proud Muslim people of the world that the author of the Satanic Verses book which is against Islam, the Prophet and the Koran, and all those involved in its publication who were aware of its content, are sentenced to death. I ask all the Muslims to execute them wherever they find them.
In the violent aftermath of the fatwa several persons associated with the book had faced lethal attacks:
July 3, 1991: Ettore Capriolo, the Italian translator, was stabbed multiple times in his apartment on Via Curtatone, Milan, Italy. A man posing as an Iranian embassy representative gained entry, demanded Rushdie’s address, then attacked him with a knife, causing serious wounds to the face, neck, chest, and arms. Capriolo survived.
July 11, 1991: Hitoshi Igarashi, the Japanese translator and scholar of Islamic culture, was fatally stabbed on July 11, 1991 (body recovered on July 12), in his office at the University of Tsukuba, Ibaraki Prefecture, Japan. He suffered multiple wounds to the face, neck, and arms. The murder remains unsolved.
July 2, 1993: Aziz Nesin, the Turkish writer and satirist who published excerpts and began translating the novel, was the target of a mob attack during the Sivas Massacre, at the Madimak Hotel in Sivas, Turkey. After Friday prayers, Islamists set the hotel ablaze. Nesin escaped via a ladder, but 37 people died in the arson.
October 11, 1993: William Nygaard, the Norwegian publisher of the book, was shot three times in the back, outside his home in Holmenkollen, Oslo, Norway. He survived after a prolonged recovery; the attack was later linked to his publication of the novel.
Following the demise of Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989, his successor, Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, remained unmoved with respect to the fatwa, declaring that it would remain in place even if Rushdie “repents and becomes the most pious man of his time.” However, in 1998, the Iranian government stated it would “neither support nor hinder assassination operations” against Rushdie as part of a diplomatic agreement with the United Kingdom, encouraging Rushdie to greater freedom of movement. Nevertheless, in 2017, Khamenei reaffirmed the fatwa.
Parts of the novel, particularly dream sequences involving the Prophet Muhammad and the founding of Islam, were seen by many Muslims as severely blasphemous and insulting to their faith. What started as a literary controversy rapidly became a life-and-death crisis, forcing Rushdie into years of hiding. The novel is officially banned in nearly a dozen countries, including Iran, Saudi Arabia, Pakistan, Indonesia, Sudan Bangladesh and Egypt. The bounty on Salman Rushdie remains active and stands at approximately, USD 3.3 million, issued by the 15 Khordad Foundation (also referred to as Foundation for Execution of Imam Khomeini’s Order), a semi-official Iranian religious foundation. Originally, set at around USD 2.8-3 million, shortly after the 1989 fatwa, it was increased in 2016.
The 2022 attack on Rushdie and the history of violence, associated with his novel demonstrate how state-sponsored provocation and religiously sanctioned edicts, amplified by radical networks, can inspire lone actors decades later, revealing the enduring global threat to free expression and secular values.
