The man convicted of stabbing Sir Salman Rushdie on a New York lecture stage in 2022, leaving the prizewinning author blind in one eye, has been sentenced to 25 years in prison.

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

Before being sentenced, Matar stood and made a statement about freedom of speech in which he called Sir Salman a “hypocrite”.

“Salman Rushdie wants to disrespect other people,” said Matar, clad in white-striped jail clothing and wearing handcuffs. “He wants to be a bully, he wants to bully other people. I don’t agree with that.”

Sir Salman did not return to the western New York courtroom for his assailant’s sentencing but submitted a victim impact statement. 

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