„Proposals to reopen cinemas in Saudi Arabia have been strongly dismissed by the current head of the country’s religious authority. ‚Motion pictures may broadcast shameless, immoral, atheistic or rotten films,‘ said the grand mufti, Sheikh Abdulaziz al-Sheikh, on his weekly television programme. ‚There is nothing good in song parties, for entertainment day and night, and opening of movie houses at all times is an invitation to mixing of sexes.‘ Public cinemas in the country have been illegal since the 1980s, but a plan to reintroduce them has been mooted by the head of the General Authority for Entertainment, Amr al-Madani, as part of the government’s Vision 2030 slate of cultural and economic reforms. The grand mufti added: ‚I hope those in charge of the entertainment authority are guided to turn it from bad to good and not to open doors to evil.‘“ (Catherine Shoard: „Saudi Arabia to continue ban on ‚immoral, atheistic‘ cinema“)
