The American justice system on Wednesday pointed the finger at the pro-Iranian Lebanese movement Hezbollah by charging with “terrorism” a young American-Lebanese who had nearly assassinated the American-British writer Salman Rushdie in New York State in 2022.
This is the first time that Washington has so specifically cited the Tehran-backed Shiite organization for the knife attack on Mr. Rushdie carried out by Hadi Matar on August 12, 2022, during a literary conference on the shores of the American Great Lakes that could have cost the life of the world-famous author of Satanic Verses released in 1988.
“Trying to kill Salman Rushdie [dans l’État] “In New York in 2022, Hadi Matar committed an act of terrorism on behalf of Hezbollah, a terrorist organization linked to the Iranian regime,” Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a statement.
Hezbollah is considered a terrorist organization by many countries, including the United States, the European Union, Canada, the United Kingdom and a majority of Arab League member states.
And since the start of the war between Israel and the Palestinian Islamist movement Hamas in the Gaza Strip last October, Hezbollah has been exchanging daily cross-border fire with the Hebrew state, raising fears of a larger-scale regional war.
“The Justice Department will pursue those who commit acts of violence on behalf of terrorist groups and undermine the fundamental freedoms enshrined in our Constitution,” warned Secretary Garland.
Hadi Matar, a 26-year-old American also Lebanese, who lived in New Jersey in the suburbs of the megacity of New York, has already been pursued and detained for nearly two years by the local justice system in the State of New York, which suspects him of being a Hezbollah sympathizer.
Charged with “terrorism”
The young man was indicted a week ago at the federal level by a “grand jury” – citizens who participate in the criminal investigation phase – on three counts, including “supporting a foreign terrorist organization,” according to a July 17 court document made public Wednesday by the federal court of the western jurisdiction of the state of New York.
Mr. Matar had pleaded “not guilty” to “attempted murder” and “assault” before the local court, paving the way for a trial that could begin on October 15, according to the American press.
The accused faces 25 years in prison.
The procedure before the federal court is a separate process.
On August 12, 2022, at the start of a literary conference in a bucolic setting in the small town of Chautauqua, on the shores of the Great Lakes, Salman Rushdie was stabbed on stage about ten times in the neck, face, and stomach by Hadi Matar, who was subdued.
After a long convalescence, Salman Rushdie, 77, lost the sight in his right eye and now wears a black lens on his glasses.
” The knife “
He recounted this assault and shared his thoughts on death and love in The knife published in April.
Born in Bombay, India in June 1947, Salman Rushdie published his first novel Grimus in 1975.
Author of around fifteen novels, stories for young people, short stories and essays, he received the Booker Prize in 1981, one of the most prestigious literary awards for Midnight’s Children.
The British writer had set part of the Muslim world ablaze with the publication of Satanic Verses in 1988, leading the founder of the Islamic Republic, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, to issue a fatwa in 1989 calling for his assassination.
Mr Rushdie had been forced to live in hiding and under police protection, moving from hiding place to hiding place.
Having lived in New York City for over 20 years and having become a naturalized American citizen, he had regained freedom of movement in recent years and had even confided that he felt safe again in the United States, before the attack in the summer of 2022.