Salman Rushdie attacker sentenced to 25 years for brutal onstage stabbing

Hadi Matar, the man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie in a 2022 on-stage attack, was sentenced on May 16 to 25 years in prison.

Matar, 27, offered no denial in court and used his brief remarks before sentencing to criticise Rushdie, calling him a “hypocrite” and accusing him of bullying others, despite claiming to support freedom of speech, Caliber.Az reports, referring to US media.

Rushdie, now 77, lost sight in one eye and suffered serious injuries from the assault. He did not attend the sentencing in western New York but submitted a victim impact statement, which was not publicly released. According to District Attorney Jason Schmidt, Rushdie described ongoing nightmares from the attack.

The stabbing occurred at the Chautauqua Institution, where Rushdie was about to speak on writer safety. Matar rushed the stage and stabbed Rushdie multiple times in the head and torso. Venue footage showed Matar ambushing Rushdie from behind, continuing the assault until bystanders intervened.

A jury found Matar guilty in February of attempted murder and assault after less than two hours of deliberation. Judge David Foley emphasised the symbolism of the attack happening at a venue known for intellectual freedom and sentenced Matar to 25 years for the attack, plus a concurrent 7-year sentence for injuring another man on stage.

Matar’s lawyer, Nathaniel Barone, requested a 12-year sentence, citing his client’s clean criminal record. However, Schmidt argued for the maximum, saying the attack was carefully planned to inflict widespread harm on Rushdie and the community of 1,400 gathered at the event.

After the stabbing, Rushdie spent 17 days hospitalised in Pennsylvania and over three weeks in rehabilitation in New York City. He recounted his recovery in his 2024 memoir, Knife. The Booker Prize-winning author is known for works like Midnight’s Children, The Moor’s Last Sigh, and Victory City.

Matar, a U.S. citizen, now faces a separate federal trial on terrorism-related charges, with a potential life sentence if convicted. While his state trial focused on the assault itself, the upcoming case will examine motive.

Prosecutors allege Matar sought to fulfil a 1989 fatwa issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini, calling for Rushdie’s death over his novel The Satanic Verses, which many Muslims consider blasphemous. The fatwa was later believed to be backed by Hezbollah and reaffirmed by its leader, Hassan Nasrallah, in 2006. Matar had travelled from Fairview, New Jersey, to the event about 70 miles southwest of Buffalo to carry out the attack.

By Tamilla Hasanova