Salman Rushdie’s attacker sentenced to 25 years in prison

A New York state judge sentenced Hadi Matar to 25 years in prison on Friday for attacking author Salman Rushdie with a knife in 2022. Matar charged Rushdie during an on-stage speaking engagement and stabbed the author a total of 15 times across his head, neck, and stomach. The Indian-born British-American author survived but lost an eye from the attack. A jury convicted Matar of the attack in February, and the 27-year-old received 25 years in prison for attempted murder and another seven years for the assault of another man who was wounded on stage. Both sentences will run concurrently with additional years of post-release supervision. Rushdie did not appear for sentencing but submitted a private victim impact statement to the court.

Why did Matar attack Rushdie? Many Muslims were offended by how Rushdie portrayed the Islamic prophet Muhammad in his 1988 novel The Satanic Verses. The book prompted Iranian Grand Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini to put a $3 million bounty on Rushdie’s head. Matar never formally confirmed that he was acting on the 1989 order. Matar voiced his dislike for Rushdie during a 2022 jailhouse interview with The New York Post after the attack, and accused the author of attacking the religion of Islam.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt explained after the sentencing why his office opted against presenting evidence about Matar’s motive. The team decided against trying to prove Matar’s motive because the essential part of the case—proving Matar’s intent—was achievable without it, he said at a Friday press conference.

Matar’s attorney, Chautauqua County Public Defender Nathaniel Barone, told the media he planned to appeal the sentence by pointing out what he said were a number of issues with the trial, including the lack of Muslim jurors in the jury pool. When asked if his client felt remorseful for the attack, Barone said he couldn’t give an answer. Some people have a difficult time expressing regret, but Matar would probably change his past actions, Barone said. But Barone went on to admit that he couldn't say that definitively.

Matar is still facing federal charges for the attack, which Barone said will go to trial soon.

Dig deeper: Read Josh Schumacher’s report for more background on the federal terror charges Matar faces.