ALLEGED RUSHDIE ATTACKER, AWAITING TRIAL IN NEW YORK, COULD STILL FACE FEDERAL CHARGES, LAWYER SAYS
MAYVILLE, new York—the lawyer for the new Jersey man charged with stabbing author Salman Rushdie is in talks with county and federal prosecutors to try to resolve existing charges of attempted murder without a trial—as well as potential terrorism-related charges that could still be coming, he said on Friday.
Hadi Matar, 26, has been held without bail since his 2022 arrest, immediately after allegedly attacking the internationally acclaimed writer in front of a stunned audience he was about to address at the Chautauqua Institution in western new York. Rushdie was blinded in one eye, and moderator Henry Reese also was wounded.
Matar pleaded not guilty to assault and attempted murder after being indicted by a Chautauqua County grand jury shortly after the attack.
The US Justice Department continues to consider separate federal charges against Matar, though none have yet been filed, according to public defender nathaniel Barone, who said he is in contact with federal prosecutors. If Matar agrees to plead guilty in the state and a potential federal case, Barone said, he would want a shorter state prison sentence in return, something Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt is unwilling to consider.
Barone said Matar faces up to 25 years in prison if convicted of attempted murder, and he has proposed a maximum of 20 years instead—otherwise, “there’s no carrot to plead here.” Schmidt said he would not sign off on less than the maximum, given the nature of the crime, regardless of whether the Justice Department brings a case. “It’s not just Salman Rushdie,” he said. “It’s freedom of speech. It’s the fact that this occurred in front of thousands of people and it was recorded, and it’s also a recognition that some people should be held to the top charge.”
Rushdie, 76, spent years in hiding after the Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa, or edict, in 1989 calling for his death due to his novel The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims consider blasphemous.