MAYVILLE: An American-Lebanese man was sentenced to 25 years in prison on Friday for trying to kill novelist Salman Rushdie with a knife at a New York cultural centre in 2022.

Hadi Matar, 27, was convicted in February of attempted murder and assault for the stabbing, which left Rushdie blind in one eye.

Matar received the maximum sentence of 25 years in Chautauqua county court for the attack on Rushdie and seven years for assault on the moderator of the speaking event, who was also on stage.

Judge David Foley ordered the sentences to run concurrently.

The British-American author did not attend the sentencing but submitted a victim impact statement.

Matar also faces separate federal charges that carry a maximum penalty of life in prison.

Video of the attack was played during the trial and showed Matar rushing the stage and plunging a knife into Rushdie.

“It was a stab wound in my eye, intensely painful, after that I was screaming because of the pain,” Rushdie told jurors, adding that he was left in a “lake of blood”. Matar, who shouted pro-Palestinian slogans on several occasions during the trial, stabbed Rushdie about 10 times with a six-inch blade.

Published in Dawn, May 17th, 2025