BBC News Online: World: Middle East

Saudis take action against Pokemon

The authorities in Saudi Arabia have said they'll confiscate and destroy the popular children's game Pokemon after a religious ruling against it.

A commerce ministry official Abdul Ali al-Abdul Ali said Pokemon products would be removed from shops, and customs officers told not to allow them into the country. Products using Pokemon as a marketing tool would also be withdrawn. Earlier, Saudi Arabia's highest religious authority banned Pokemon, charging that Pokemon encouraged gambling as well as carrying religious symbols representing non-Muslim faiths.

The ruling said all Muslims should beware of the game and prevent their children from playing it in order to protect their religion. The Pokemon phenomenon -- which originated in Japan three years ago as a video game and expanded into cartoons, comic books and trading cards -- has become a craze among children around the world, and a multi-billion dollar industry.

From the newsroom of the BBC World Service