Stabbing of Salman Rushdie
| Stabbing of Salman Rushdie | |
|---|---|
Amphitheater stage where the attack occurred, as seen on July 20, 2022 | |
| Location | 42°12′30″N 79°27′51″W / 42.2084°N 79.4643°W Chautauqua Amphitheater, Chautauqua Institution, in Chautauqua, New York, U.S. |
| Date | August 12, 2022 c. 10:47 am (EDT) |
| Target | Salman Rushdie |
Attack type | Stabbing |
| Deaths | 0 |
| Injured | 2 (including Rushdie) |
| Arrests | 1 |
| Perpetrator | Hadi Matar |
| Motive | Shia Islamic extremism (possible attempted realization of fatwa against Rushdie) |
| Charges |
|
| Convictions | |
On August 12, 2022, Indian-born British novelist Salman Rushdie was stabbed multiple times by 24-year-old Hadi Matar as he was about to give a public lecture at the Chautauqua Institution in Chautauqua, New York, United States. Matar was immediately arrested and charged the following day with assault and attempted murder. Rushdie was gravely wounded and hospitalized. Interviewer Henry Reese was also injured by the attacker.
Rushdie had been threatened with death since 1989, a year after the publication of his novel The Satanic Verses, when the Iranian supreme leader Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini issued a fatwa calling for his assassination, and set a bounty of $3 million for his death. For years, Rushdie had lived in hiding, taking strict security measures that gradually became more relaxed over time.
The government of Iran denied having foreknowledge of the stabbing, although state-controlled agencies of the Iranian media celebrated it. U.S. law enforcement investigated whether the assailant was in contact with other extremists.
Rushdie's memoir about the attack, Knife: Meditations After an Attempted Murder, was released on April 16, 2024. In February 2025, Matar was convicted of attempted second-degree murder and second-degree assault and was sentenced in May 2025 to 25 years in prison.