The Satanic Verses was published in the United Kingdom in September 1988. Protest began in India, which banned its import within weeks, and spread through Britain, where copies were burned in Bradford in January 1989, and to Pakistan, where police fired on a demonstration in Islamabad on 12 February and several people were killed. The ruling was broadcast on Iranian radio the following day and dated 14 February 1989.
It is short. It informs the Muslims of the world that the author of the book, and those involved in its publication who were aware of its contents, are condemned to death, and calls on Muslims to execute them wherever they are found so that no one will dare to insult the sanctities of Islam again. A separate announcement by an Iranian foundation attached a monetary reward, which was raised more than once in later years.
Two features distinguish it from an ordinary fatwa. A fatwa is a legal opinion answering a question, and this was issued unprompted. And its claimed jurisdiction is universal: it addresses Muslims everywhere, over a book published in another state by a citizen of that state. Scholars of Islamic law both inside and outside Iran disputed at the time whether it satisfied the conditions for a ruling of this kind at all, among them that the accused be tried and be given opportunity to answer. Those objections were made publicly and did not affect its practical operation.