True Crime Stories That Are So Wild, It’s a Matter of Time Before Netflix Turns Them Into a Documentary

In 1991, scholar Hitoshi Igarashi was found dead in his office at the University of Tsukuba in Japan after he translated Salman Rushdie’s controversial novel, The Satanic Verses, into Japanese. The novel stirred controversy in Muslim communities, resulting in Ayatollah Khomeini issuing a fatwa on Rushdie in 1989. Two years later, Khomeini’s successor Ali Khamenei issued another fatwa, this time targeting anyone involved in the novel’s publication, including Igarashi.

The scholar was murdered in what is now known as the Satanic Verses murder, and his killer or killers have never been found. It’s a chilling reminder of the consequences that can arise when freedom of expression clashes with deeply held beliefs. The Satanic Verses murder highlights the lengths to which some people will go to protect their beliefs, no matter how violent or extreme those beliefs may be.