BUFFALO, N.Y. — Federal prosecutors for the first time acknowledged a potential motive in the attack on Salman Rushdie at the Chautauqua Institution two years ago, after unsealing a new three-count indictment against the alleged assailant.
Hadi Matar is accused of stabbing the world-renowned author, blinding him in his right eye, and according to prosecutors carried out the attack to fulfill a fatwa, or Islamic edict put out by a Hezbollah leader who called for Rushdie's death back in 2006.
The attack on Rushdie is not the first threat that he and others have been subject to since the release of his book "Satanic Verses." In 1988, Ayatollah Khomeini deemed the book blasphemous and also called for the author's death as a result.
Matar pleaded not guilty to each federal charge in downtown Buffalo Wednesday. They include terrorism transcending national boundaries as well as providing and attempting to provide material support to terrorists.
The new charges are separate from the ones that Matar faces for attempted murder and assault in Chautauqua County. Matar has said he is innocent and rejected a plea deal earlier this month that could have meant less prison time.
The case is now set to go to trial in October.
"At this stage, everything is brand new," said Matar's attorney, Nathaniel Barone.
After the arraignment, Barone told reporters that the indictment was the result of a two-year investigation involving multiple law enforcement agencies both nationally and internationally.
He also explained what he called 'tangible differences' between the state and federal charges brought against Matar.
"What you see often with federal charges is the more of the conspiracy type of allegation with allegations that are based on [someone's} intent or what they intend on doing so sometimes the proof or what the federal government has to demonstrate is often quite different that the state charges," Barone said.
Government prosecutors had no comment after the court proceeding.
Barone said it is not unusual for state and federal cases to run simultaneously but that it does change the legal calculus for both.
"It's going to at the very least raise some concerns and some issues about what happens at [the state] trial so we have to be a little more cognizant. We have to be aware of certain things that might come up at that trial that could be used later on federally," he added.
Matar was remanded back into the custody of the Chautauqua County jail where he has been held for the past two years.