Man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie sentenced to 25 years in prison

Hadi Matar, 27, was sentenced to 25 years in prison for the 2022 stabbing attack on author Salman Rushdie during a lecture in New York. Rushdie, now 77, suffered serious injuries including partial blindness and nerve damage. Matar, who also injured a moderator, received an additional 7-year sentence to run concurrently. Prosecutors say the attack was motivated by a fatwa issued by Iran’s Ayatollah Khomeini in 1989 over Rushdie’s book The Satanic Verses, NPR has reported. Matar faces separate federal terrorism charges that could result in a life sentence.