Cairo: Three Saudi men narrowly escaped jail in Britain after one of them had appeared in an online video showing him plucking feathers of pigeons inside an hotel, Saudi newspaper Okaz has reported.
The Saudi embassy in London stepped in to save the trio after the video had raised ire of viewers and prompted complaints against them.
In the footage, one of the three is seen removing the bird feathers in a bathtub of their hotel room in London.
It was unclear why the men were tearing off the pigeons’ feathers.
“A visitor may make a mistake due to being unaware of regulations in the host country,” the embassy said in a comment to Okaz. “Unfortunately, some underestimate regulations on the pretext that a friend or a relative was not detected while committing the perpetration,” the mission said without giving details.
One of the three, Mansour Al Raqiba, who is a Snapchat celebrity, later made an online apology. “I apologise for this mistake. I thought that the issue would end in paying a fine. But had it not been for the embassy’s stance, the issue would have led to jail,” he said.
The 40-year-old man added that he could have been jailed for three months.
