Hadi Matar, the attacker who stabbed author Salman Rushdie at a public event in Western New York in 2022, was sentenced on Friday to 25 years in prison, district attorney Ann Marie said. The second man was also injured.
Rushdie, 77, has endured death threats ever since his novel “The Satanic Verses” was published in 1988, when Iran’s then-leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, declared the book blasphemous and issued a fatwa calling for Rushdie’s assassination.
Matar, 27, of Fairview, New Jersey, is a US citizen. He was sentenced in May in Chautauqua County Court to second-degree attempted murder for the February 2022 stabbing incident. He was also sentenced to seven years for second-degree assault for wounding Henry Reese, who was accompanying Rushdie at the time of the attack. The two sentences will be served concurrently.
Video evidence captured Matar storming the stage at the Chautauqua Institution as Rushdie prepared to give a talk on safeguarding writers from violence. The attack left Rushdie half-blind in his right eye and badly hurt, needing emergency surgery to repair injuries to his liver and intestines.
District Attorney Jason Schmidt characterized the long-term trauma Rushdie endures, such as nightmares and continued recovery issues. City of Asylum co-founder Henry Reese was also stabbed but lived.
Matar’s defense countered that prosecutors did not establish intent to kill, and an assault charge would be more suitable. His attorney, Nathaniel Barone, said they would appeal the conviction.
Matar also has independent federal charges of terrorism in Buffalo, charged with trying to kill Rushdie as an act of terror and giving support to the terrorist organization Hezbollah. His second trial awaits.
