Pokemon subject to fatwa in Saudi Arabia
AAP on July 20, 2016, 9:15 pm
Three Saudi men have been arrested while playing Pokemon Go at an airport in the kingdom, the Saudi online newspaper Almowaten reports.
The three, in their mid-20s, were referred to investigations for using their smartphone cameras to illegally take pictures in the restricted area of the King Abdullah airport in south-western Saudi Arabia, the paper said.
It was not clear when the incident occurred or what penalty could apply to them.
The Council of Senior Scholars, the kingdom's highest religious body, this week renewed a 2001 fatwa, or religious edict, that considers the Pokemon game a form of gambling, which is forbidden in Islam.
Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan, a member of the council, said that the current form of the game falls under the same fatwa banning the card version, Saudi newspaper Arab News reported.
The game is not officially available in Saudi Arabia, but many in the oil-rich country are believed to have downloaded the app, according to media reports.
