- cross-posted to:
- world
- cross-posted to:
- world
A man was convicted Wednesday of federal terrorism charges in the 2022 stabbing of Salman Rushdie, the author who has faced a decades-old death threat over his novel “The Satanic Verses.”
A jury found Hadi Matar guilty of all the charges against him, including engaging in an act of transnational terrorism.
A message seeking comment was sent to Matar’s attorneys.
Matar, 28, is already serving a 25-year New York state prison sentence on an attempted murder conviction in the August 2022 attack on an amphitheater stage. The federal conviction carries a potential life sentence.
Rushdie, who was about to speak on writers’ safety, was slashed 15 times in front of a stunned audience. He was gravely wounded and lost the sight in his right eye.
Fuck religious fanaticism, or rather fanaticism in general.
The Satanic Verses might not be one of my favorite books. I have my own criticism of some of the themes in the story, racism being first among them. But I don’t think that spending a life looking over your shoulder is fair. And the fact that he has to do so is a more poignant critique of Islam than the book itself.
Dozens of people have been killed in retribution for the writing, publishing, and translating of this book. Either as direct targets, or collateral damage from assassination attempts
Religious people are fucking insane. Christians and Muslims both called for the suspension of free speech to ban the book, across many countries. As far as I saw, the murders were all carried out by Muslims


