Salman Rushdie stabber sentenced to 25 years imprisonment for attempted murder

A jury found Hadi Matar, 27, guilty of attempted murder and assault in February.

Salman Rushdie was not present at the Western New York courtroom for his assailant's sentencing on Friday but submitted a victim impact statement.

During the trial, the 77-year-old author described how he believed he was dying when a masked attacker stabbed a knife on his head and body more than a dozen times as he was being introduced at the Chautauqua Institution to speak about writer safety.

Before being sentenced, Matar also made a statement about freedom of speech during which he called Rushdie a hypocrite.

"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," Matar said.

Matar received a maximum 25-year sentence for the attempted murder of Rushdie and seven years for wounding a man who was on stage with him.

He will serve the sentences concurrently as both victims were injured in the same event, Chautauqua County District Attorney Jason Schmidt said.

In requesting the maximum sentence, Schmidt told the judge that Matar "chose this. He designed this attack so that he could inflict the most amount of damage, not just upon Mr. Rushdie, but upon this community, upon the 1,400 people who were there to watch it."