Man who stabbed author Salman Rushdie faces sentencing in New York

MAYVILLE, N.Y. – The antheral convicted of stabbing Salman Rushdie connected a New York lecture signifier successful 2022, leaving the prizewinning writer unsighted successful 1 eye, is scheduled to beryllium sentenced connected Friday.

A assemblage recovered Hadi Matar, 27, blameworthy of attempted execution and battle successful February.

Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said helium volition petition the maximum 25 years successful situation for the Aug. 12, 2022, onslaught connected Rushdie and 7 years for injuring a 2nd antheral who was connected signifier with the author. The sentences indispensable tally concurrently due to the fact that some victims were injured successful the aforesaid event, helium said.

Rushdie is not expected to instrumentality to tribunal for his assailant's sentencing, the authoritative said. During the trial, the 77-year-old author was the cardinal witness, describing however helium believed helium was dying erstwhile a masked attacker plunged a weapon into his caput and assemblage much than a twelve times arsenic helium was being introduced astatine the Chautauqua Institution to talk astir writer safety.

Rushdie spent 17 days astatine a Pennsylvania infirmary and much than 3 weeks astatine a New York City rehabilitation center. The writer of “Midnight's Children,” “The Moor’s Last Sigh" and “Victory City” elaborate his betterment successful his 2024 memoir, “Knife.”

Matar adjacent faces a national proceedings connected terrorism-related charges. While the archetypal proceedings focused mostly connected the details of the weapon onslaught itself, the adjacent 1 is expected to delve into the much analyzable contented of motive.

Authorities said Matar, a U.S. citizen, was attempting to transportation retired a decades-old fatwa, oregon edict, calling for Rushdie’s decease erstwhile helium traveled from his location successful Fairview, New Jersey, to people Rushdie astatine the summertime retreat astir 70 miles (112.6 kilometers) southwest of Buffalo.

Matar believed the fatwa, archetypal issued successful 1989, was backed by the Lebanon-based militant radical Hezbollah and endorsed successful a 2006 code by the group’s secretary-general, Hassan Nasrallah, according to national prosecutors.

Iranian person Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued the fatwa aft work of Rushdie's novel, “The Satanic Verses,” which immoderate Muslims see blasphemous. Rushdie spent years successful hiding, but aft Iran announced it would not enforce the decree helium traveled freely implicit the past 4th century.

Matar pleaded not blameworthy to a three-count indictment charging him with providing worldly to terrorists, attempting to supply worldly enactment to Hezbollah and engaging successful coercion transcending nationalist boundaries.

Video of the assault, captured by the venue's cameras and played astatine trial, amusement Matar approaching the seated Rushdie from down and reaching astir him to stab astatine his torso with a knife. As the assemblage gasps and screams, Rushdie is seen raising his arms and rising from his seat, walking and stumbling for a fewer steps with Matar hanging on, swinging and stabbing until they some autumn and are surrounded by onlookers who unreserved successful to abstracted them.

Jurors successful Matar's archetypal proceedings delivered their verdict aft little than 2 hours of deliberation.

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