Rushdie stabbing, Hadi Matar sentenced to 25 years. No repentance from the attacker

The 27-year-old who stabbed him in public in 2022 called the writer “a hypocrite and a bully.” Rushdie now returns to Hay Festival stage with book written after attack

Twenty-five years in prison, the maximum expected. Hadi Matar, the 27-year-old Lebanese-born U.S. citizen, was convicted of the attempted murder of Salman Rushdie, who was attacked at knifepoint during a public event in Chautauqua, New York State, on Aug. 12, 2022.

The verdict was handed down today by Judge David W. Foley in Chautauqua County Circuit Court at the end of a hearing that lasted about an hour. It had taken the jury less than two hours to reach the guilty verdict. Matar, who chose not to testify or call witnesses, said before sentencing that he considered Rushdie “a hypocrite and a bully,” showing no sign of repentance.

The attack left Rushdie, now 77, blind in one eye and with permanent damage to his face and one hand. After decades spent under protection for the fatwa issued by Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 following the publication of “The Satanic Verses,” Rushdie has returned to confront fundamentalist violence the way he knows best: with writing.

In the coming days, the Anglo-Indian writer will return to the stage at the Hay Festival in Hay-on-Wye, Wales, where he will present “Knife. Meditations after an Attempted Assassination” and “The City of Victory.”

“I remember thinking I was dying. Fortunately, I was wrong,” said Rushdie, who with “Knife” turned the attack he suffered into an act of literary resistance.

“It’s not just a return as an author, but as a witness to a culture that resists,” noted the BBC, which previewed the author’s presence at the festival. Rushdie announced that on stage he will reaffirm his “right to speak,” in a world that continues to be marked by extremism and intolerance.

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(Photo: © AndKronos)