Hadi Matar, the 25-year-old man who stabbed acclaimed author Salman Rushdie, has been convicted and sentenced to 32 years in prison. The stabbing took place in August 2022, when Rushdie was set to deliver a lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in New York.
Matar, who resides in Fairview, New Jersey, pleaded not guilty to the indictment but was finally convicted of assault and attempted murder by the court. The conviction is a big milestone in the case, which received widespread international condemnation from politicians, authors, and human rights activists.
Rushdie, writer of the satirical novel "The Satanic Verses," has received death threats and a fatwa by Iran's then-leader, Ayatollah Khomeini, in 1989. The assault on Rushdie raised issues regarding freedom of speech, censorship, and the security of writers who receive threats for their writings.
The Matar case brought into focus the threats to writers and public figures who have expressed controversial views. The sentence is a reminder of the necessity of guarding freedom of expression and the vigilance needed to be maintained against violence and intimidation ¹.