ES News email The latest headlines in your inbox twice a day Monday - Friday plus breaking news updates Enter your email address Continue Please enter an email address Email address is invalid Fill out this field Email address is invalid You already have an account. Please log in Register with your social account or click here to log in I would like to receive lunchtime headlines Monday - Friday plus breaking news alerts, by email Update newsletter preferences

Pokémon GO has been banned in Saudi Arabia after an old fatwa outlawing the original game was renewed.

The original fatwa, or religious edict, was issued 16 years ago, when clerics in 2001 decided the original game was a form of gambling, which is forbidden in Islam.

Sheikh Saleh Al-Fozan, a member of the Council of Senior Scholars, said the current version of the game was the same as the old one, which meant the fatwa would still apply.

As well as justifying the ban by saying the game includes gambling practices, scolars also said it fell foul of prohibitions in Islam against polytheism, and contained forbidden images.

According to Saudi online newspaper Almowaten, three Saudi men were arrested while playing Pokémon GO at an airport in the kingdom.

The men, in their mid-20s, were reportedly using their smartphone cameras to illegally take pictures in the restricted area of the King Abdullah airport in the city of Jeddah.

The game is not officially available in Saudi Arabia, but many in the country are believed to have found ways to download the app.

It uses "augmented reality" to allow users to catch Pokémon in real-world scenarios, and has been a global hit since its release.