Hadi Matar was charged with attacking and stabbing Salman Rushdie on a lecture stage in western New York on August 12, 2022.

Salman has lived under the threat of death and attack ever since 1989 when the Iranian supreme leader, Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwah and a €3,000,000 bounty. The fatwah was issued because Salman wrote a novel called 'The Satanic Verses' which had a passage that satirised the Quran. All of this is because of that little offense, and offense that should have rolled of the backs of those offended.

Salman writes in his memoirs of the fatwah, titled Joseph Anton, his life, his career, who he is, his controversies, and as well of course, what it is like to live in captivity.