On Friday, a U.S. citizen and a Lebanese man received sentences for their roles in a knife attack on novelist Salman Rushdie in 2022 at a cultural event in New York.
Hadi Matar, 27, is facing a maximum of 25 years in prison after being found guilty of attempted murder and assault earlier this year.
During the trial, Rushdie recounted the painful experience of being stabbed, describing it as a severe “sting and slashing” at the High-Long Cultural Center.
“It felt like a stab in my eyes, very painful, and I was screaming from the agony,” he said.
Matar reportedly shouted Palestinian slogans in court while he had stabbed Rushdie approximately ten times with a six-inch blade.
Despite claiming to have only read two pages of Rushdie’s “The Satanic Verses,” Matar believed the author had “attacked Islam.”
His defense team attempted to downplay Rushdie’s status as a victim of persecution, given the historical context of a 1989 fatwa from Iran that called for his death over perceived blasphemy.
Iran distanced itself from the attack, asserting that Rushdie bore responsibility for the situation.
Rushdie suffered severe injuries during the attack; his right eye was severely damaged, and he described a painful surgical process to treat it. He humorously remarked, “I do not recommend it.”
In addition to the eye injury, his throat was cut, and after significant damage to his liver and intestines, he faced paralysis in one arm due to a serious nerve injury.
Now 77, Rushdie was saved by a bystander during the attack. He published a memoir titled “Knife,” detailing his near-fatal ordeal. His publisher also announced that a new collection of short stories, “The Eleventh Hour,” will be available on November 4, 2025.
Born in Mumbai and relocating to England as a child, Rushdie gained fame with his second novel, “Midnight’s Children,” which earned him the notable Booker Prize for its portrayal of post-independence India.
However, “The Satanic Verses” sparked significant controversy, drawing ire and unwelcome attention. The backlash included attacks on bookstores, the murder of his Japanese translator, and an assassination attempt on his Norwegian publisher.
Rushdie lived under threat in London for ten years following the fatwa in 1989 but managed a relatively normal life in New York for two decades until the stabbing incident.
