Rushdie 'pleased' with his attacker's maximum jail term

LONDON: Salman Rushdie said Monday he was "pleased" with the maximum 25-year jail sentence handed to a man who tried to kill him with a knife at a New York cultural centre in 2022.

"I was pleased that he got the maximum available, and hopefully he uses it to reflect upon his deeds," Rushdie told BBC radio in an interview.

Hadi Matar was sentenced to 25 years in a New York court on May 16 after being convicted of attempted murder and assault. Video footage played during the trial showed Matar rushing onto stage and plunging a knife into Rushdie that left the British-American author blind in one eye.

Last year, Rushdie published a memoir recounting the experience called "Knife", in which he has an imagined conversation with Matar. "If I was to really meet him... I wouldn't get very much out of him," Rushdie said. "And so I thought, well, I could open it by myself. I'd probably do it better than a real conversation would." afp