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BUFFALO, N.Y. — <\/span>The man who was convicted of trying to kill Salman Rushdie<\/a> is going on trial again, this time in a federal terrorism case that is probing deeper into what allegedly motivated the stabbing on a lecture stage<\/a> in 2022. <\/p>\n Opening statements are set for Wednesday in Hadi Matar’s trial in the federal courthouse in Buffalo, New York. It’s about 70 miles (113 km) from the arts and intellectual retreat<\/a> where the renowned author and free-speech advocate was attacked as he was about to discuss writer safety<\/a>. <\/p>\n The Booker Prize-winning Rushdie, now 79, is expected to be among the first witnesses, again describing the stabbing that nearly killed him and left him blind in one eye. He has recounted the moment and his lengthy recovery in testimony<\/a> at Matar’s state-court attempted murder trial, in a memoir<\/a> and in multiple interviews.<\/p>\n \u201cThe thing that happens when you get really a close-up look at death \u2014 that\u2019s as close as you can get without actually doing the dance of death and heading off to nowhere \u2014 it stays with you,\u201d he told The Associated Press<\/a> in 2024. \u201cThere\u2019s a shadow.\u201d <\/p>\n Matar, 28, already is serving a 25-year New York state prison sentence<\/a> on a state-level attempted murder and assault conviction. That case focused mostly on the details of the knife attack itself; the federal one delves more into questions of motive. <\/p>\n Matar has pleaded not guilty to federal charges that include engaging in an act of transnational terrorism. If convicted, he faces a potential life sentence. <\/p>\n Prosecutors have argued that he was acting out of loyalty to Iran’s theocratic government and the Iran-backed Hezbollah militant group after the Islamic Republic’s late Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini<\/a> called for Rushdie’s death because of his 1988 novel \u201cThe Satanic Verses.\u201d <\/p>\n Matar’s electronics included information on the fatwa, or Islamic religious ruling, that sought Rushdie’s death, and Matar kept a journal and sticky notes logging his research on Rushdie and possible ways and places to kill him, prosecutors said in a 2025 court filing. In Matar\u2019s New Jersey bedroom, federal agents found photos of Khomeini and now-deceased successor Ayatollah Ali Khamenei<\/a>, the filing said. <\/p>\n \u201cWhen he attempted to carry out the fatwa, he believed he was doing so on behalf of\u201d Hezbollah, which the U.S. government designates as a terrorist organization, assistant U.S. Attorneys Timothy Lynch and Charles Kruly wrote in the filing. <\/p>\n Asked about the case Tuesday, Matar’s attorney Nathaniel Barone said he planned to give an opening statement. In the years leading up to the trial, Matar’s lawyers tried unsuccessfully to exclude some evidence from his social media accounts and other digital activity, arguing that the government’s electronic searches cast too big a net. <\/p>\n Matar declined to testify at his state court trial<\/a>, and it’s unclear whether he will take the stand in federal court. At his state court sentencing, Matar said he believed in free speech, but he asserted that Rushdie was \u201ca hypocrite\u201d who \u201dwants to bully other people.”<\/p>\n Matar also spontaneously spoke out in support of Palestinians<\/a> while heading into and out of the state courtroom. <\/p>\n Born in the U.S. to parents who immigrated from Lebanon, Matar is a citizen of both countries. His mother has said he turned moody and withdrawn after a 2018 trip to Lebanon, where Hezbollah is based. <\/p>\n Rushdie was born in India, raised in Britain \u2014 where he was knighted by the late Queen Elizabeth II \u2014 and now is a U.S. citizen. He won the Booker Prize in 1981 for \u201cMidnight\u2019s Children,\u201d a magical realist novel about a personal and national journey that begins at the instant when India became independent. <\/p>\n But Rushdie became most famous, and notorious, for \u201cThe Satanic Verses,\u201d particularly a passage featuring a dream sequence about the Prophet Muhammad<\/a>. Some Muslims saw it as blasphemous, and often-violent protests erupted against Rushdie, who was born into a Muslim family.<\/p>\n Khomeini’s 1989 fatwa drove Rushdie into hiding for years. Although Iran hasn’t focused in recent years on the decree, it was never rescinded. Iran’s government denied involvement<\/a> in the 2022 stabbing, but its Foreign Ministry’s then-spokesperson suggested Rushdie invited trouble by insulting Islam. <\/p>\n After \u201cKnife,\u201d Rushdie’s memoir about the stabbing, he returned to fiction with last year’s \u201cThe Eleventh Hour,\u201d<\/a> a book of short stories and novellas. He was recognized with a Dayton Literary Peace Prize<\/a> lifetime achievement award in November. <\/p>\n ___<\/p>\n Peltz reported from New York.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n