Knife-Wielding Madman Who Stabbed Salman Rushdie Learns His Fate

(Carolyn Thompson/Andy Kropa/Invision/AP photos)

The man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie repeatedly after rushing the stage during a 2022 lecture in upstate New York has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

Hadi Matar, 27, learned his fate Friday, nearly three years after the disturbing assassination attempt that played out in front of an audience and left The Satanic Verses author blind in one eye.

Matar stabbed Rushdie over a dozen times after running onto the stage at the Chautauqua Institute in Chautauqua, New York, moments before the author was due to speak.

Matar was convicted of attempted murder and assault in February.

Back in the late 1980s, Iran’s Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini declared The Satanic Verses was “blasphemous,” and issued a fatwa on Rushdie.

Cops believed Matar, a U.S. citizen, was acting on the fatwa when he attacked Rushdie.