A 27-YEAR-OLD American-Lebanese man was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in prison for attempting to murder novelist Salman Rushdie at a New York cultural event in 2022.
Hadi Matar was convicted in February of attempted murder and assault after he stabbed Rushdie, leaving the author blind in one eye.
In Chautauqua County Court, Matar received the maximum sentence of 25 years for the attack on Rushdie and seven years for assaulting the event’s moderator. Judge David Foley ordered both sentences to run concurrently.
Rushdie did not attend the sentencing but submitted a victim impact statement.
Matar also faces separate federal terrorism charges that could lead to a life sentence.
Video footage played during the trial showed Matar rushing the stage and stabbing Rushdie with a knife.
"It was a stab wound in my eye, intensely painful, after that I was screaming because of the pain," Rushdie told jurors, adding that he was left in a "lake of blood."
Matar, who stabbed Rushdie about 10 times with a six-inch blade, shouted pro-Palestinian slogans during the trial.
He told the media he had only read two pages of Rushdie's book The Satanic Verses but believed the author had "attacked Islam."
His lawyers tried to stop witnesses from describing Rushdie as a victim of persecution linked to the 1989 fatwa by Iran that called for the author's death over alleged blasphemy in the novel.
Iran has denied any involvement and said Rushdie alone was responsible for the attack.
Life-threatening injuries
Rushdie’s right optic nerve was severed. His Adam's apple was lacerated, and his liver and small bowel were punctured. He also suffered permanent nerve damage in one arm, leaving one hand paralysed.
Bystanders intervened to stop Matar during the attack. In 2023, Rushdie published a memoir called Knife about the incident.
His publisher announced that a new short story collection, The Eleventh Hour, will be released on 4 November 2025.
Rushdie, who was born in Mumbai and moved to England as a child, gained prominence with his 1981 novel Midnight’s Children, which won the Booker Prize for its depiction of post-independence India.
But The Satanic Verses drew intense controversy and led to global protests. Following the fatwa, Rushdie lived in hiding in London for a decade before moving to New York, where he had lived relatively openly for two decades before the 2022 attack.
(With inputs from agencies)
Apsana Begum
