Rushdie attacker sentenced to 25 years in prison

A New Jersey man who stabbed and partially blinded novelist Sir Salman Rushdie on a New York lecture stage was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday.

Hadi Matar, 27, was convicted of attempted murder and assault earlier this year.

Sir Salman was on stage speaking before an audience in August 2022, when he was stabbed multiple times in the face and neck. The attack left him blind in one eye, damage to his liver and a paralysed hand caused by nerve damage to his arm.

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

Matar, who was also found guilty of assault for wounding the person who was interviewing Sir Salman, Henry Reese, was sentenced to seven years plus three years post-release for that assault.

The sentences must run concurrently because both victims were injured in the same event, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said on Friday.

Before being sentenced, Matar stood and made a statement about freedom of speech in which he called Rushdie a hypocrite, according to 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."

Sir Salman was not in the court for his assailant's sentencing on Friday.