Salman Rushdie, the renowned novelist and Indian-born British-American citizen, has been sentenced to a maximum penalty of 25 years in prison for his attacker, Hadi Matar. The court found Matar guilty of second-degree attempted murder in February 2022 for the stabbing attack at the Chautauqua Institution in New York state.
Matar, 27, inflicted severe injuries on Rushdie, leaving him partially blind and with permanent nerve damage. The author submitted a victim impact statement but did not attend the sentencing hearing due to health reasons.
Judge David Foley also sentenced Matar to 7 years, concurrent with the attempted murder charge, for injuring the moderator who intervened during the attack.
The assault on Rushdie is linked to his book “The Satanic Verses”, published in 1988, which sparked controversy and protests in the Muslim world. Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s murder months before his death in 1989.
Matar has denied being motivated by the fatwa, stating he disliked Rushdie due to his depiction of Islam. However, during a jailhouse interview, Matar admitted reading only two pages of “The Satanic Verses”.
Rushdie testified at trial that the assailant struck him repeatedly, describing the attack as a sudden and violent event. His defense team acknowledged that while the incident was severe, it didn’t meet the threshold for an open-and-shut case.
Matar now faces federal terrorism charges, carrying a potential life sentence if convicted. The separate trial is ongoing.
Source: https://www.npr.org/2025/05/16/g-s1-62464/rushdie-salman-attacker-guilty-sentence