Riyadh, Saudi Arabia, Oct 11, 2011 / 13:34 pm
Saudi Arabia’s religious police detained a Colombian soccer player at a shopping mall on Oct. 7 for not covering up an image of Jesus tattooed on his shoulder.
Juan Pablo Pino, 24, who plays with the Al Nasr Soccer Club in Saudi Arabia, was wearing a sleeveless shirt while out with his pregnant wife at a mall in the capital city of Riyadh.
Locals who saw the tattoo began insulting him, which drew the attention of the officers from a group known as the Police Force for the Promotion of Virtue of the Prevention of Vice, who detained the couple.
The local paper Sharq reported that officers escorted the pair to a car and then waited for Al Nasr club officials to arrive. Pino and his wife were later released.