Fine, jailing over Saudi school’s rainbow symbols

A school in Saudi Arabia has been fined for painting rainbows on its outside after the symbols were decreed to be “promoting” homosexuality.

Buzzfeed reports that the Talee al-Noor International School’s colourful décor fell afoul of the Islamic religious police and resulted in a $25,000 penalty.

According to tweets by the Saudi Society Channel, the rainbows were seen as “logos of homosexuality” by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vice.

The commission is responsible for implementing Islamic Sharia law in Saudi Arabia. Its police force is known to patrol the streets looking for and arresting transgressors for offences such as dress code violations.

The school administrator responsible for having the walls painted was, the society said, also “sent to jail in preparation to refer the case to the Bureau of Investigation and the general prosecutor.”

Saeed Matooq, editor of the Arab Channel, tweeted that the school had since been repainted to appear “normal.”

Homosexuality is outlawed in all Gulf Cooperation Countries which include Bahrain, Oman, Qatar, Saudi Arabia and the United Arab Emirates. Punishments include imprisonment, fines, deportation and even the death penalty.