Hackers shut down Saudi education ministry website

The Saudi education ministry's website was shut down on Monday after hackers posted pictures of Hezbollah leader Hassan Nasrallah and a youth wielding a syringe.

Hackers calling themselves the "True Promise Team" posted Nasrallah's picture and blasted Saudi treatment of the kingdom's minority Shiites in the first hack, according to a cached version of the page published on the Sabq.org news website.

They signed it with the name of Ali al-Sistani, Iraq's top Shiite cleric.

Saudi Arabia is predominantly Sunni Muslim.

The first page was subsequently replaced by another hack, carrying a photo of a syringe-wielding young man or woman, the cache of which could be accessed through Google.

That page appeared to give the pseudonyms of several hackers.

(c) 2010 AFP