Salman Rushdie attacker sentenced to 25 years in prison

Rushdie, 77, did not attend the sentencing but submitted a written victim impact statement, the AP said. The author was the main witness during the trial. He described thinking he was going to die when a masked man stabbed him in the head and body more than a dozen times.

Matar received the maximum 25-year sentence for the attempted murder of Rushdie. He was also given a seven-year sentence for injuring another man who was on stage, but the two sentences will run at the same time, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt told the court.

Hadi Matar sits in Chautauqua County court in Mayville, N.Y., Feb. 21, 2025. (AP)

Before the sentencing, Matar addressed the court and criticised Rushdie. “He called Rushdie a hypocrite,” the AP reported.

“He chose this. He designed this attack so that he could inflict the most amount of damage, not just upon Mr. Rushdie, but upon this community,” Schmidt said in court, according to AP. He had asked the judge to give Matar the full sentence.

Matar’s lawyer, public defender Nathaniel Barone, said his client had no previous criminal record and argued for a lighter sentence of 12 years. He also questioned whether the audience members should be considered victims.

Rushdie was taken to hospital after the attack, spending 17 days in Pennsylvania and more than three weeks in a rehabilitation centre in New York City. He later wrote about the recovery process in his 2024 memoir titled Knife.

Matar now faces a second, federal trial on terrorism-related charges. This upcoming case is expected to focus on the reasons behind the attack. According to federal prosecutors, Matar was influenced by a religious order issued decades earlier calling for Rushdie’s death.

The fatwa was issued by Iranian leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini in 1989 after the publication of Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses, which some Muslims considered offensive. Authorities said Matar believed the fatwa was still valid and supported by Hezbollah, a group based in Lebanon.

Matar has pleaded not guilty to federal charges, which include providing support to terrorists and engaging in international terrorism.

Courtroom video played during the trial showed Matar walking up behind Rushdie on stage and repeatedly stabbing him. Audience members are heard shouting as Rushdie tries to stand up and defend himself, before both men fall to the ground and others rush in to stop the attack. Jurors took less than two hours to reach a verdict in the first trial.