Hadi Matar, author Salman Rushdie’s attacker who stabbed him during a public event in Western New York in 2022, was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in prison. The sentencing took place in Chautauqua County Court, where Matar, 27, of Fairview, New Jersey, was convicted of attempted murder and assault.
Rushdie, 77, was giving a talk on writer safety at the Chautauqua Institution when Matar rushed the stage and stabbed him multiple times. The attack left Rushdie blind in his right eye and caused serious injuries to his liver, intestines, neck, and hand, requiring emergency surgery and a long recovery. Henry Reese, co-founder of Pittsburgh’s City of Asylum and co-host of the event, was also injured.
Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said Rushdie continues to suffer from the trauma of the assault, noting that it was a major setback for the author, who had only recently begun to reemerge after years in hiding due to threats stemming from his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses. The book provoked outrage in Iran, where then-Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s death.
Salman Rushdie’s attacker was given the maximum 25-year sentence for second-degree attempted murder and a concurrent seven-year sentence for second-degree assault related to Reese’s injury. His defense argued the attack lacked the intent necessary for a murder conviction and suggested Matar should have been charged with assault instead. His attorney, Nathaniel Barone, stated that Matar plans to appeal.
In addition to the state charges, Matar is facing separate federal charges in Buffalo. Prosecutors there accuse him of attempting to kill Rushdie as an act of terrorism and claim he provided support to Hezbollah, a group the U.S. government classifies as a terrorist organization. A separate trial will be held for those charges.
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