Saudi clerics reiterate fatwa against playing Pokemon Go

The edict, or fatwa, has reappeared in a ticker on the home page of the kingdom's portal for official religious decrees.

Additionally, the edict states parents are using the game to punish and reward children, while warning that adults could gamble away money playing the game. Representational file photo/agencies

audi Arabia’s top clerics renewed a religious edict that warns against playing Pokemon this time as the wildly popular mobile phone application “Pokemon Go”.

First issued in 2001 when the game was played with cards, the decree says Pokemon violates Islamic prohibitions against gambling, uses devious Masonic-like symbols and promotes “forbidden images.”

The edict, or fatwa, has reappeared in a ticker on the home page of the kingdom’s portal for official religious decrees.

Saudi-based Arab News reported today that Sheikh Saleh al-Fozan, a member of the kingdom’s ultraconservative council of senior clerics, said the current version of the game is the same as the old one.