Where is Omar Borkan Al-Gala? | The man who was “deported from Saudi for being too handsome”

By Roqeebah Olaoniye

You may remember his face from April 2013 when almost every news outlet reported that the Saudi Arabian Police deported three men from the Kingdom for being too handsome.

“Earlier this week, three men were forcibly removed from a culture festival in Saudi Arabia after religious police deemed the men “too handsome”. – UK’s Independent reported on the 26th of April 2013 .

The Independent’s report relied on an

“Arabic language newspaper Elaph”, which reported that a “festival official said the three Emiratis were taken out on the grounds they are too handsome and that the Commission [for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices] members that concerns that female visitors could fall for them.”

One of these three illegally handsome men turned out to be Omar Borkan Al-Gala:

Ridiculously handsome right?

Within a few hours, the internet was ablaze with photos of identifying Omar as one of the deported handsome men.

Omar did nothing to quell the rumours. In fact, he seemed to add to them with a series of Facebook comments that kind of played to the gallery.

“On his page ” as reported by the Independent UK , Al Gala posted a link to an article about the deportation with the comment: “This is what written in newspapers in over the world :)” “Elsewhere, in a typical post”, the report continued, “the handsome poet writes: “The beauty of a woman must be seen from in her eyes, because that is the doorway to her heart, the place where love resides.”

Like this, he rode the “storm” (but it was fame actually because he sort of became the face of all handsome men world over) for two years. He got more modelling jobs, was interviewed every time he travelled somewhere and his followers on social media certainly grew.

It was only after two years that Omar Borkar opened up about the events that brought him to limelight.

In a 2015 interview with Metro , two years after the rumoured deportation, Omar finally opened up on what happened that day in April 2013.

Al Gala told Metro that he and his friends were at the festival in Riyadh when some girls recognised him from some modelling he had done. As they gathered for autographs and photos, the crowd grew”, Metro reported.

“The religion police [Saudi Arabia’s Commission for the Promotion of Virtue and Prevention of Vices which enforces rules limiting interaction between men and women who aren’t related] didn’t like it,” Al Gala, 24, told Metro. “They came and they asked me politely to leave the festival.”

So it turned out he was never deported from Saudi Arabia — only asked to leave the festival.

By that interview, Omar was already a Samsung ambassador. His modelling career already took off big time. He is now trying to break into the acting world.

Omar who now lives in Vancouver in Canada now has had ample opportunity to travel the world, even as far as Japan and his face graces several advert campaigns.

You can now track the handsome Omar via his Instagram where he now shares visuals from his daily experiences as well as photos of his wife and child.

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