By Pishtaz | 2024-07-29

The man accused of trying to kill author Salman Rushdie has been charged with terrorism for allegedly acting on behalf of Lebanese Hizbullah, according to documents unsealed July 24.

This is the first time the United States has so clearly singled out the Iranian regime-backed party -- which has a long history of carrying out assassinations -- over the 2022 stabbing attack on Rushdie at an arts gathering in New York state.

The attacker, Hadi Matar, was already charged by the state of New York.

He has now been indicted by a grand jury on three counts that include attempting to provide material support to a foreign terrorist organization, according to the newly unsealed indictment, dated July 17, AFP reported.

In August 2022, Rushdie lost sight in one eye after he was stabbed 10 times by a knife-wielding assailant.

Rushdie had faced death threats since his 1988 novel "The Satanic Verses" was declared blasphemous by Islamic Republic founder Rouhollah Khomeini, who in 1989 issued a fatwa calling for the author's death.

Hizbullah endorsed the fatwa, the US Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) said in a June 24 statement.

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

Hizbullah is classified as a terrorist organization by the United States, the European Union, Britain and most members of the Arab League, among others.

Political assassinations

Hizbullah's hit squad, Unit 121, has been linked to a number of high-profile assassinations, including the 2005 suicide bombing that killed Lebanese prime minister Rafik al-Hariri and 21 others.

The squad reportedly carries out assassinations on the direct orders of Hizbullah chief Hassan Nasrallah.

Political assassination is an integral part of Hizbullah's modus operandi, political activist Lokman Slim said in September 2020, months before he was assassinated himself in an attack blamed on the Lebanese party.

"The basis in Hizbullah's lexicon is that the use of violence has been permissible," he said.

Tehran also has a long history of targeting Iranian dissidents, at home and abroad.

The Islamic Republic's global campaign of terror has killed some 360 individuals outside the country since 1978, with assassinations taking place in 40 countries, per a US State Department report published in May 2020.

Assassinations have been largely directed by the Islamic Revolutionary Guard Corps Quds Force and Iran's Ministry of Intelligence, as well as by proxies such as Hizbullah.

In December, a Washington Post investigation said Tehran had intensified its efforts to target dissidents living overseas, with multiple Iranian agencies implicated in the plots.

According to the report, the orders to kidnap or kill abroad come from the senior level of the Iranian regime.