Hadi Matar, 27, of Fairview, New Jersey, was convicted of attempted murder and other charges in Salman Rushdie attack. He was successfully prosecuted for the attempted murder of the internationally celebrated author Salman Rushdie. In August 2022, at a public event in New York state, Matar proceeded to stab Rushdie 15 times, nearly killing him. This brutal assault resulted in extensive, life-threatening injuries that left the author’s right eye permanently disfigured.
Matar has been charged with attempted murder. He was sentenced to an additional seven years for injuring Ralph Henry Reese, who was accompanying the other passenger on the same trip. Due to the fact that both attacks occurred together during the same event, both sentences will be served at the same time. Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt called Matar’s attack premeditated to cause the most destruction. He did so in an attempt to injure not just Rushdie but the audience of nearly 1,400 would-be attendees of the major literary event.
Matar’s motivation for the attack was said to have been a 2006 speech given by Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah. Matar acknowledged that he’d only read a couple pages of Rushdie’s provocative novel, which has been denounced by Iranian theocrats as blasphemous. In a statement prior to his sentencing, he unabashedly declared his hatred for Rushdie.
“Salman Rushdie wants to disrespect other people… He wants to be a bully, he wants to bully other people. I don’t agree with that.” – Hadi Matar
The attack slashed through Rushdie’s liver, severed his hand’s main nerve, and punctured his abdomen. Rushdie dramatically described the experience of discovering that he had been stabbed when he was attacked last August. The incident’s appalling details made a deep impact.
“I became aware of a great quantity of blood I was lying in. My sense of time was quite cloudy, I was in pain from my eye and hand, and it occurred to me quite clearly I was dying.” – Salman Rushdie
Matar had pled guilty to attempted murder in the second degree almost three months before his sentencing hearing. Yet, his trial attracted an unusual level of scrutiny as Rushdie was to be the main witness. Nathaniel Barone, Matar’s attorney, noted the unprecedented influence of public opinion in the case.
“Every day since then, for the last couple of years, this case has been an international publicity sponge. There was no presumption, ever, of innocence for Mr Matar from the very beginning.” – Nathaniel Barone
Matar’s otherwise spotless criminal history made the crime he committed especially jarring. His sentencing underscores the ideological battleground on which free speech is pitted against violence. It further provides a lens into how extremist ideologies shape individual action.