Hadi Matar stabbed Salman Rushdie 15 times as the author was about to deliver a speech in 2022. (AP PHOTO)Hadi Matar stabbed Salman Rushdie 15 times as the author was about to deliver a speech in 2022. (AP PHOTO) Credit: AAPA man has been convicted of 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. Rushdie, who was about to speak on writers' safety, was slashed 15 times in front of a stunned audience. As Rushdie was being introduced, his attacker climbed on stage behind him, then stabbed him 15 times as the audience gasped.