BEIRUT: Lebanon’s state prosecutor ordered Tuesday the arrest of individuals behind the distribution of flyers in Beirut carrying a distorted image of Saudi King Abdullah.

“Judge Hatem Madi tasked the Criminal Investigations Bureau to launch a probe to determine the identity of the individuals responsible for this act, locate them, arrest them and refer them to the judiciary,” a judicial source told The Daily Star.

A large King of Spades playing card depicting the Saudi monarch holding a blood-stained sword was seen pasted to the side of a pedestrian bridge in Jal al-Dib, Matn, early Tuesday.

The banner comes days after Saudi newspaper Al-Watan published an unflattering caricature of Maronite Cardinal Beshara Rai.

Saudi Ambassador to Lebanon Ali Awad Asiri told the state-run National News Agency Friday that the caricature was a personal work and “does not reflect in any way the opinion of the Kingdom of Saudi Arabia.”

The Al-Watan caricature depicted the cardinal as President Bashar Assad and came days after the prelate’s historic visit to Syria.