The Saudi Arabian interior ministry has decided to confiscate all ‘Vendetta’ masks found in the Gulf kingdom, the website of Deutsche Welle, Germany's international broadcaster, reported on Thursday.
According to the report, the Islamic Affairs ministry ordered imams of mosques in the ultra-conservative state to extract evidence from the Islamic holy texts the Quran and the Sunnah that prohibit the use of the Guy Fawkes mask, which was worn by a character in the film ‘V for Vendetta’.
"The government envisions the Vendetta masks as means of pushing youth groups to extremism and violence," Deutche Welle quoted the Saudi Al-Madina newspaper as saying.
‘V for Vendetta,’ released in 2006, was a global hit. The film was adapted from an earlier graphic novel written by Alan Moore and illustrated by David Lloyd.
The novel is set in the future, where a masked figure calling himself "V" and modeling himself on Fawkes tries to save England from a totalitarian police state that spreads propaganda through the media.
Over the last few years the masks have become common sights at anti-establishment protests around the world, including in the Middle East.
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