"He designed this attack."
In 2022, a violent stabbing was inflicted upon the author Salman Rushdie, leaving millions shocked.
On August 12, 2022, Sir Rushdie was preparing for a lecture in New York when a man named Hadi Matar attacked him.
Matar rushed onstage and stabbed the author repeatedly in the face, neck, and abdomen.
Sir Rushdie survived the attack, but the incident left him blind in one eye and negatively impacted the use of one of his hands.
In February 2025, Matar was convicted of the attempted murder and assault of Salman Rushdie.
The quantum of his sentence has now been confirmed, with Matar ordered to serve 25 years in prison.
Sir Rushdie was not present for his attacker’s sentencing, but he had submitted a victim impact statement.
Matar was also sentenced to seven years for injuring the man who was onstage with the author during the stabbing.
As both victims were at the same place, the sentences will run concurrently.
Before his sentencing, Matar made a statement about free speech and called Sir Rushdie a “hypocrite”.
District Attorney Jason Schmidt said: “He designed this attack so that he could inflict the most amount of damage.
“Not just upon Mr Rushdie, but upon this community, upon the 1,400 people who were there to watch it.”
During Matar’s trial, Sir Rushdie faced his attacker for the first time on the second day.
The author testified: “I became aware of a great quantity of blood I was lying in.
“My sense of time was quite cloudy.
“I was in pain from my eye and hand, and it occurred to me quite clearly I was dying.”
Schmidt added: “I want you to look at the unprovoked nature of this attack.
“I want you to look at the targeted nature of the attack.
“There were a lot of people around that day but there was only one person who was targeted.”
Matar, from New Jersey, did not testify in his trial and no defence witnesses were called.
After the attacker was sentenced, he declared: “Free Palestine!” before being led out of the courtroom.
In relation to the stabbing, Matar was also indicted on federal terrorism charges. A trial date for these charges is yet to be confirmed.
He has also pleaded not guilty to a three-count indictment charging him with providing material to terrorists, attempting to provide material support to Hezbollah, and engaging in terrorism transcending national boundaries.
Salman Rushdie’s 2022 attack was the subject of his memoir Knife: Meditations After An Attempted Murder (2024).
The author has faced death threats since the publication of his 1988 novel, The Satanic Verses.
In 1981, Salman Rushdie’s novel, Midnight’s Children, won the Booker Prize and the James Tait Black Memorial Prize.
It has sold over one million copies in the UK.
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