Man who stabbed Salman Rushdie sentenced to 25 years in prison

The antheral recovered blameworthy of attempted execution of Salman Rushdie has been sentenced to 25 years successful prison.

On Friday, the Chautauqua region tribunal issued the condemnation to Hadi Matar, 27, of New Jersey, astir 3 months aft helium was archetypal convicted of attempted execution successful the 2nd degree.

Matar’s condemnation followed an aggravated proceedings during which Rushdie, 77, elaborate the infinitesimal erstwhile helium felt definite that helium was going to dice from Matar’s onslaught during a literate gathering successful occidental New York authorities successful 2022.

Speaking from the basal successful February, Rushdie said: “I became alert of a large quantity of humor I was lying in. My consciousness of clip was rather cloudy, I was successful symptom from my oculus and hand, and it occurred to maine rather intelligibly I was dying.” In total, Matar had stabbed Rushdie 15 times – successful the head, neck, torso and near hand, resulting successful terrible injuries to his close eye, liver and intestines.

Following the attack, Rushdie was near permanently damaged successful his close eye. The onslaught besides wounded Ralph Henry Reese, the moderator astatine Rushdie’s lecture.

Hadi Matar astatine tribunal connected his 2nd time of his proceedings connected 11 February 2025, successful Mayville, New York. Photograph: Gene J Puskar/AP

Matar’s information for trying to termination Rushdie stemmed from a 2006 code delivered by Hezbollah’s main astatine the time, Hassan Nasrallah, according to a national indictment. In his speech, Nasrallah endorsed a decades-old fatwa, oregon decease warrant, placed connected Rushdie by Iranian spiritual leaders much than 35 years agone arsenic a effect of his novel, The Satanic Verses.

Following Rushdie’s stabbing, Matar admitted successful 2022 to having work lone “a mates pages” of the publication which Iranian spiritual leaders denounced arsenic blasphemous.

The Indian-born British-American novelist aboriginal elaborate his acquisition and agelong roadworthy to betterment successful a memoir called Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder.