American-Lebanese man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie 10 times sentenced to 25 years in prison

Salman Rushdie's attacker, a 27-year-old American-Lebanese man, Hadi Matar, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2022 knife attack on Rushdie at a cultural event in New York.

Convicted in February of attempted murder and assault, Matar had stabbed Salman Rushdie about ten times in the face and neck, leaving the author permanently blind in one eye.

‘Intensely painful…’ says Salman Rushdie

Rushdie, a British-American, told jurors during the trial about Matar "stabbing and slashing" him at the upscale cultural center.

"It was a stab wound in my eye, intensely painful, after that I was screaming because of the pain," AFP quoted Salman Rushdie as saying, who also added that he was left in a "lake of blood."

Attacker sentenced to 25 years in prison

Matar received the maximum sentence of 25 years for the attack on Rushdie and seven years for assault on another attendee at the speaking event. The sentences are to run concurrently, reported AFP.

Salman Rushdie attack

The attack on Salman Rushdie came 35 years after his controversial novel The Satanic Verses, which had long made him the target of death threats for its portrayal of the Prophet Muhammad.

According to a report by BBC, the attack also damaged Rushdie's liver and a paralysed hand caused by nerve damage to his arm.

What did Rushdie's attacker claim?

Before being sentenced to 25 years of jail time, Matar stood and made a statement about freedom of speech, and called Salman Rushdie a hypocrite, mentions a report by the Associated Press.

"Salman Rushdie wants to disrespect other people," said Matar, clad in white-striped jail clothing and wearing handcuffs.

“He wants to be a bully, he wants to bully other people. I don't agree with that," the BBC quoted Rushdie's stabber as saying.

Matar had previously told the media he had only read two pages of Rushdie's "The Satanic Verses," but believed Salman Rushdie had "attacked Islam."

Salman Rushdie was not present at the sentencing, but he submitted a victim impact statement to the court. During the trial, the 77-year-old author served as the main witness, recounting the horrific moment he was attacked. He described how, just as he was preparing to speak at the Chautauqua Institution on the topic of writer safety, a masked man rushed the stage and began stabbing him repeatedly in the head and torso, reported AFP.