Hadi Matar is a 27-year-old US-Lebanese national who was found guilty of attempted murder after he attacked and partially blinded India-born British author Salman Rushdie in 2022. According to Matar's social media posts, he's a supporter of Iranian regime and had praised former Iranian Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini. Notably, Khomeini had issued fatwa seeking Rushdie's assassination.