This week Saudi Arabia's religious police reminded us some things in the kingsom are still pretty terrible when a hefty fine and a jail sentence were handed down to a private school in the capital Riyadh over its decidedly 'gay' paint job.
An edict concerning the The Talee al-Noor International School rainbow-colored exterior appeared earlier this week on the Twitter handle of the Saudi Society Channel, a subsection of the Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice under which the religious police enforce a strict interpretation of Sharia Law thoughout the kingdom.
هيئة الأمر بالمعروف والبلدية والأمارة تزيل الشعار وتغرم "مدرسة أجنبية"في الرياض بمبلغ١٠٠الف بعد وضعها شعار المثليين pic.twitter.com/sLTldRQ8yt
— قناة المجتمع السعودي (@ksa12300) July 17, 2015
Translation: Committee for the Promotion of Virtue and the Prevention of Vice removed the flag and fined the school 100,000 SAR after using LGBT flag.
تم احالة المسؤول في المدرسة الذي وضع الشعار إلى السجن تمهيداً لإحالته إلى هيئة التحقيق والأدعاء العام
— قناة المجتمع السعودي (@ksa12300) July 17, 2015Translation: Homosexuality is a criminal offence in Saudi Arabia and is punishable by flogging and prison.
The kingdom's religious police have made headlines in the past for trolling Saudi women for not wearing gloves in shopping malls and attacking a British man and his Saudi wife after a confrontation. And this is far from their first edict — they've also made bans on Valentine's Day and women smoking cigarettes.
The rainbow decor was deemed a "symbol of homosexuality" and the school was given 100,000 Riyal fine (almost $27,000), jail time for one of its administrators and a drab blue repaint.
The move serves as yet another depressing example of Saudi's pitiful human rights record. But on the bright side, it also gave Twitter a delightful opportunity to make fun of it all. Guess there's at least a digital pot of gold at the end of this rainbow? Feast your eyes on our best finds.
Saudi justice, somewhere over the rainbow. http://t.co/8xgIBpigjx
— jdbussone (@jdbussone) July 22, 2015Rainbows now offensive in Saudi Arabia apparently. I wonder if Rainbow Brite ever aired on TV there.. http://t.co/pWIV5RSdLA #Saudi #KSA
— Karolina S Johansson (@KSJohansson) July 22, 2015@DavidKenner @MarcherLord1 Will the Saudi airforce be scrambled to shoot down rainbows?
— Russell Taylor (@RussTayles) July 20, 2015@DavidKenner @MarcherLord1 Just as well George, Bungle and Zippy aren't around. It would be off with their puppet heads.
— Comrade Corbyn (@OffencePolice) July 20, 2015Top Saudi clerics have reportedly said that they will shoot down any rainbow that dares to show itself in the sky like its gay or something.
— GodHatesFAQs (F.J.) (@MrPolyatheist) July 21, 2015Rainbow Qur'an.A headache for the Saudi Arabia religious police.Copies will be confiscated.But what to do with them? pic.twitter.com/4ODbASUntl
— Ruslan Trad (@ruslantrad) July 21, 2015After rainbow fine in Saudi, I'm waiting for reports of leprechauns being jailed for luring children to rainbows. http://t.co/JrHg5nkIHc
— J. Lester Feder (@jlfeder) July 20, 2015
