Delegates from the United Arab Emirates to the Jenadrivah Heritage and Culture Festival in Riyadh, Saudi Arabia's capital city were taken aback when religious police stormed the stage to evict three men.
Their crime?
According to the Arabic language newspaper Elaph the men were guilty of being "too handsome."
Saudi Arabia has a majority Sunni population and is known worldwide for their ultraconservative religious laws. Most notable among these laws is the one that bans women from driving cars, thus making Saudi Arabia the only country in the world with such a ban.
The strict laws and standards are often enforced by the Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices. According to the Daily Mail the Commission deported the three men back to UAE in case women "should fall for them."
The official reason for the incident is a little murky. While Elaph reports that a festival official confirmed that the three men were taken out for being too handsome the UAE released an official response that the incident was provoked by the appearance on the stage of an unnamed female artist.
Speculation ran rampant on the internet as to the identities of the three men whose good looks prompted police action. Jezebel is reporting that one of the offenders is Omar Borkan Al Gala.
Al Gala is a bit of a Renaissance man hailing from Dubai; he is known as an actor, poet and photographer.
While it has not been confirmed that Al Gala is one of the three deported men he has apparently been having fun with the story on his Facebook page. Al Gala has posted links to news stories reporting the deportations along with pictures of himself and comments making light of the situation.
It may turn out that Al Gala was not one of the deported men but the speculation should boost his notoriety quite a bit. One couldn't hope for a better claim to fame than having such good looks that legal action was required to combat them.
