Salman Rushdie attacker convicted of terror offences

A US man who is already serving 25 years in prison for attempting to kill Sir Salman Rushdie has been convicted of additional charges, including providing material support to a terrorist group. Hadi Matar was convicted in a New York federal court on Wednesday of providing assistance to Hezbollah, the Lebanese armed faction which is designated as a terrorist group by the US, UK and many other countries. Prosecutors argued that Matar had been motivated by a fatwa, a religious edict, issued by Iran's religious leader in 1989 for Sir Salman's death. The award-winning author testified during the trial, describing the attack and crediting a firefighter with saving his life by providing medical care. The jury convicted Matar of engaging in an act of transnational terrorism and providing material support to Hezbollah. During the trial in the New York city of Buffalo, prosecutors argued that he had been motivated by a 2006 speech by the then-leader of Hezbollah, calling for the fatwa against Sir Salman to be enforced, and that he had plotted the attack for two years. "The defendant decided no one was going to do it, so he had to do it," Assistant US Attorney Timothy Lynch said in his closin