Saudi clerics ban popular cartoon


Issue 967 - 04 Apr 2014 | 1 minute read

A highly popular, Islam-inspired cartoon about superheroes is the latest target of a ban in Saudi Arabia. The 99 – which started in 2006 as a comic strip by Kuwait’s Naif Al-Mutawa, has been ruled blasphemous by clerics. “The 99 is the work of the devil that should be condemned and forbidden in respect to God’s names and attributes,” Grand Mufti Abdelaziz Al Al-Sheikh was quoted as saying. The cartoon is aired by Saudi-owned satellite channel MBC3. It has earned praise around the world, including from Kuwait’s Emir Sheikh Sabah Al-Ahmed Al-Sabah and US President Barack Obama.

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