Overview

• Hadi Matar was convicted in February of attempted murder and assault for stabbing Rushdie at New York’s Chautauqua Institution and received the maximum 25-year term this month.
• During the 2025 trial, the 77-year-old author recounted how the 2022 attack left him blind in one eye.
• Matar was also handed a seven-year sentence for wounding another man on stage alongside Rushdie.
• On BBC Radio 4’s Today programme, Rushdie said he was “pleased” by the maximum sentence and hopes it prompts Matar to reflect on his actions.
• The attack traces back to a 1989 fatwa over The Satanic Verses, underscoring enduring threats to free expression and writers’ safety.