Saudi cartoon sparks controversy

A cartoon, representing King Abdullah bin Abdul of Saudi Arabia, suspended over pedestrian bridges on the outskirts of Beirut has sparked controversy, with authorities now looking for the publisher responsible. A large King of Spades playing card depicting the Saudi monarch holding a blood-stained sword was seen pasted to the side of a pedestrian bridge in Jal al-Dib in Matn, early on Tuesday. Some believe the incident may be linked to a recent cartoon published by Saudi newspaper al-Watan, depicting Lebanon’s Maronite Patriarch Mar Bechara Boutros Rai, which suggested links between the religious leader and Syrian President Bashar al-Assad. Others connected it to recent anti-Saudi remarks made by General Michel Aoun, leader of Lebanon’s Change and Reform Party, because the area where the cartoon is suspended is linked to Aoun’s Free Patriotic Movement (FPM). Lebanese prosecutors meanwhile demanded the arrest of individuals behind the distribution of flyers in Beirut, detailing a distorted image of the Saudi king.