Salman Rushdie Attacker Sentenced to 25 Years in Prison for Brutal On-Stage Stabbing
A New Jersey man has been sentenced to 25 years in prison for the violent 2022 stabbing of acclaimed author Salman Rushdie during a live event in New York. The attacker, 27-year-old Hadi Matar, was convicted earlier this year of attempted murder and assault for the attack that left Salman Rushdie blind in one eye and with lasting injuries.
The shocking incident occurred in August 2022 while Salman Rushdie was speaking on stage at the historic Chautauqua Institution. Matar rushed the stage and stabbed the renowned novelist 15 times, targeting his face, neck, chest, eye, and thigh. The brutal assault caused permanent damage, including a paralyzed hand due to nerve injury, and severe liver trauma.
Matar also injured interviewer Henry Reese, who suffered stab wounds during the incident. For this, Matar received an additional seven-year sentence for assault, along with three years of post-release supervision. However, both sentences will run concurrently, as both victims were attacked during the same event, said Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt.
Before sentencing, Matar made a controversial statement in court, calling Salman Rushdie a “hypocrite” and claiming he disrespected others. Salman Rushdie was not present in court for the sentencing.
The attack came 35 years after the publication of Rushdie’s controversial novel The Satanic Verses, which sparked global outrage in parts of the Muslim world for its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad. The book led to years of death threats, a fatwa issued by Iran’s supreme leader Ayatollah Khomeini, and forced Salman Rushdie into hiding for nearly a decade.
Prosecutors described the attack as deliberate and targeted, with Jason Schmidt stating, “There were a lot of people around that day, but there was only one person who was targeted.”
During the trial in February 2025, Salman Rushdie testified about the terrifying moment he saw Matar charging toward him. He initially thought he was being punched, only later realizing he had been stabbed. “His eyes were dark and seemed very ferocious,” Rushdie said in court.
Matar, who pleaded not guilty, declined to testify and his defense did not call any witnesses. His legal team argued that prosecutors failed to prove intent to kill.
Matar had previously expressed admiration for Ayatollah Khomeini and said in a 2022 interview that Salman Rushdie was “someone who attacked Islam.”
Despite believing that the threats to his life had faded, Salman Rushdie later admitted that he had let his guard down. Just weeks before the attack, he told a German magazine that his life felt “relatively normal.”
The famed British-Indian author has since published a memoir titled Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, detailing his recovery and reflections on the incident.
This case continues to underscore the long-standing controversy surrounding Salman Rushdie, Hadi Matar’s motivations, and the enduring impact of The Satanic Verses decades after its publication.
