Saudi Arabia Fires Education Officer Over Fake Photo Of King Faisal Sitting Next To Yoda
Didn't know Yoda was at the signing of the United Nations Charter in 1945.
By John Lim — 27 Sep 2017, 12:32 PM
An embarrassing mistake, this was.
A top Saudi education official and some supervisors were fired this week after a doctored image of King Faisal with Star Wars icon Yoda made its way into a school textbook.
Social studies students in the country were confused to see the black-and-white image, which shows King Faisal, Saudi Arabia's third monarch, signing the United Nations Charter in 1945 with the wise Jedi master Yoda perched next to him.
The English-language Arab News reported that the undersecretary for educational curriculums and programs, Mohammed bin Attia al-Harthi, and the supervisors who reviewed the textbook have been terminated by the Education Ministry on Monday, 25 September.
Education Minister Ahmed al-Eissa apologised on Twitter for the error and announced that the book would be withdrawn and reprinted
To avoid the repeat of similar mistakes, the education ministry has assigned the printing and reviewing of school books to a new company.
Exactly how the picture ended up in the textbooks is shrouded in mystery. The education ministry is now doing its best to withdraw copies of the book.
The altered photograph was created by Abdullah al-Shehri, a Saudi artist who goes by the name Shaweesh, in 2013. It was part of a series in which archival photographs of historical events were altered to include iconic figures in American pop culture.
Shaweesh was confused at how his edited image ended up in the textbook. "Someone should have checked the image before printing," he told BBC.
