Igarashi, Hitoshi, 1947-1991

Hitoshi Igarashi (五十嵐 一, Igarashi Hitoshi, 10 June 1947 – 11 July 1991) was a Japanese scholar of Arabic and Persian literature and history and the Japanese translator of Salman Rushdie's novel The Satanic Verses. He was murdered in the wake of fatwas issued by Ayatollah Ruhollah Khomeini of Iran – who, by the time of Igarashi's murder, had died – calling for the death of the book's author and "those involved in its publication." His murder remains unsolved.