Hezbollah link: Salman Rushdie attacker Hadi Matar indicted on terrorism charges

New York: The man accused of trying to kill the author Salman Rushdie has been charged with terrorism for allegedly acting on behalf of Hezbollah, according to documents unsealed Wednesday.

Hadi Matar, a 26-year-old American of Lebanese descent who was already charged by the state of New York for the 2022 stabbing attack, has now been indicted by a grand jury on three counts that include attempting to provide material to support a foreign terrorist organisation, said the indictment dated July 17 but not unsealed until now.

That organisation is Lebanon's Iran-backed movement Hezbollah, the US Justice Department said.

In August 2022 Rushdie lost sight in his right eye after the attack by a knife-wielding assailant, who jumped on stage at an arts gathering in New York state.

The Indian-born author, a naturalised American based in New York, had faced death threats since his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" was declared blasphemous by Iran's supreme leader.

In 1989, that leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, issued a fatwa, or religious edict, calling on Muslims anywhere in the world to kill Rushdie.

Hezbollah endorsed the fatwa, the FBI said in a statement Wednesday.

"We allege that in attempting to murder Salman Rushdie in New York in 2022, Hadi Matar committed an act of terrorism in the name of Hezbollah, a designated terrorist organization aligned with the Iranian regime," Attorney General Merrick Garland said in a separate statement.

"The defendant attempted to carry out a fatwa endorsed by Hezbollah that called for the death of Salman Rushdie," said FBI Director Christopher Wray.

The other two counts in the indictment charge Matar with engaging in an act of terrorism transcending national boundaries and providing material support to terrorists.