Qatar school removes Snow White book after indecency complaint

Doha school apologises after pupil’s father reportedly claims the book based on Disney version contains sexual innuendo

A book based on Disney’s Snow White and the Seven Dwarfs has reportedly been removed from a Qatar school library after it was deemed to contain “indecent” illustrations.

Officials from Qatar’s supreme education council were said to have intervened after a complaint from the father of a pupil at the Spanish SEK international school, based in the capital, Doha.

The father said the book contained indecent illustrations and phrases as well as “sexual innuendo”, the Al-Sharq newspaper wrote on Thursday.

It is not known which images caused offence, but the book cover shows a smiling Snow White being held by the prince, who in the story revives her with a kiss after she eats a poisoned apple, English-language website Doha News reported.

SEK headteacher Vivian Arif told Doha News that the school immediately took action after receiving the complaint.

“SEK international school Qatar is proud to be established in this country and presents its formal apologies for any offence that this unintended situation may have caused,” Arif was quoted as saying in a statement.

The school opened in September 2013 and has more than 150 pupils from 27 countries, according to its website. It offers classes for students from the ages of three to 18.

The book is based on the Disney-animated version of Snow White, released in 1937 and based on the Grimm brothers’ fairytale.

The removal of the book comes less than a fortnight after Qatar banned the film The Danish Girl, which is about an artist who has one of the world’s first sex changes, after protests about the movie’s alleged “depravity”.