Rushdie's Assailant Gets 25 Years: A Long, Hard Slog in Prison
Convicted attacker of Salman Rushdie faces 25-year prison sentence.
The chop-suey of life took another grisly turn for renowned writer Salman Rushdie as his attacker, American Hadi Matar, walked away with a 25-year stint behind bars. The long sentence was slapped on Matar in a New York court, after he brutally stabbed Rushdie during a reading event last year.
Matar, a 27-year-old man, got his comeuppance as media outlets across the country celebrated the verdict in unison. Given the gravity of the crime, Matar can contest the decision, but the onus is upon him to prove his innocence.
The savage attack in August 2022, caught on camera, left Rushdie with grievous injuries, including a blinded eye and an impaired vision. The 77-year-old author was hospitalized for weeks, followed by several more weeks in rehab.
The Book That Incited an Attack
A court in Chautauqua County, NY, found Matar guilty of second-degree attempted murder in February this year. Despite Matar pleading not guilty, the evidence presented left no room for doubt that he carried out the attack. Hundreds of onlookers and cameras captured the event for all the world to see. Matar opted out of testifying in court, but Rushdie faced his attacker and described the horrifying event in his own words.
"I was certain that I was going to die... that was all I could think of," Rushdie recounted in court. From the corner of his eyes, he spotted the attacker approaching, wild-eyed and bloodthirsty. Matar, however, kept his eyes averted during the trial, unwilling to face the victim he had nearly killed.
Like a lamb to the slaughter, Rushdie initially thought he was just about to get beaten up. But as he felt a torrent of blood spilling onto his clothes, he realized the gravity of the situation. Matar continued to plunge the knife into him, causing serious wounds to his face, neck, and eye. "It was an agonizing and life-threatening ordeal," Rushdie vividly recalled. "Then I started screaming in pain."
Rushdie carried the scars of the attack in more ways than one. Apart from the physical wounds and impaired vision, he now lacks the stamina and vitality of his former self.
A Decades-Old Feud
Fast forward a few years to Rushdie's April 2024 publication of "Knife: Thoughts After an Attempted Murder"—a book that documented his harrowing experience and the aftermath. The author had long been on the hit list, thanks to his controversial novel "The Satanic Verses" which was published in 1988. The book sparked a fury among certain religious groups worldwide, and the outrage reached fever pitch when Ayatollah Khomeini, the then Iranian leader, called for Rushdie's death.
Though Matar's motives weren't explicitly stated during the trial, many analysts believe that the timing and context point to the longstanding controversies surrounding Rushdie's work. Whether this connection was deliberate or mere coincidence remains unclear.
Rushdie's Life Post-Attack
In a poignant moment in court, Rushdie showed the jury his damaged eye as a testament to Matar's cruelty. The memory of the attack will stay with him forever, and his life will never return to normal.
Source: ntv.de, rog/dpa
- Feuds
- New York
- Due to the aftermath of the attack, Salman Rushdie might find it challenging to focus on activities like reading books, what with his impaired vision and decreased vitality.
- The general-news outlets reported extensively on the crime-and-justice case centering around the entertainment world, with Hadi Matar being sentenced for his attack on renowned author Salman Rushdie.
- In his book "Knife: Thoughts After an Attempted Murder," Rushdie had spoken about the decades-old feud sparked by his controversial novel "The Satanic Verses," which led to his inclusion on a hit list and even calls for his death.
- As the proceeding closed, Iowa court officials reminded everyone that accidents prone to fires could still occur, even in the midst of seemingly challenging situations like the trial of the assailant of Salman Rushdie, who had caused car-accidents in the past and faced charges related to general-news headlines.
