Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt says published reports about statements made by the Iranian government regarding the religious decree issued by the late Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini calling for Rushdie's death provide a basis for concluding Hadi Matar poses a …
Several pieces of information on Hadi Matar's fake driver’s license show that he attempted to associate himself with Hezbollah, prosecutors said. The issue date is May 25, 2022. May 25 is celebrated by Hezbollah as the day of resistance in remembrance of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. Also, the name on the driver’s license is comprised of two names that are significant to Hezbollah. The first name, “Hassan,” is the first name of Hezbollah’s then-Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. The last name, Mughniyah, is an apparent reference to Imad Mughniyah, the former leader of Hezbollah’s External Security Organization.
Prosecutors say Hadi Matar kept a notebook that included a list of the pros and cons of trying to kill Salman Rushdie. Although his journal entries are undated, the content is similar to the questions Matar asked in a messaging app to an Iran-based user named Kamyar, suggesting that Matar wrote the journal entry sometime in 2022, prosecutors said.
Several pieces of information on Hadi Matar's fake driver’s license show that he attempted to associate himself with Hezbollah, prosecutors said. The issue date is May 25, 2022. May 25 is celebrated by Hezbollah as the day of resistance in remembrance of the withdrawal of Israeli forces from Lebanon. Also, the name on the driver’s license is comprised of two names that are significant to Hezbollah. The first name, “Hassan,” is the first name of Hezbollah’s then-Secretary General Hassan Nasrallah. The last name, Mughniyah, is an apparent reference to Imad Mughniyah, the former leader of Hezbollah’s External Security Organization.
The photo on the left depicts Ruhollah Khomeini, the former supreme leader of Iran, and Ali Khamenei, who at the time of the attack on Salman Rushdie was the supreme Leader of Iran. The photo on the right depicts Hezbollah suicide bomber Ahmed Kassir, recognized as the first Hezbollah martyr.
