Iranian cleric rules 3G phones un-Islamic
Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi declared 3G phones un-Islamic as Iran's minister of communication information technology was summoned before a parliamentary committee on the issue.
![Grand Ayatollah Shirazi casts his vote in Qom, south of Tehran. Grand Ayatollah Makarem Shirazi (2nd R) casts his vote in Qom, 120 km (75 miles) south of Tehran, June 17, 2005. Iranians began voting for a new president on Friday, with wily pragmatist cleric Akbar Hashemi Rafsanjani the front-runner in an unusually tight election denounced by the United States as unfair. REUTERS/Morteza Nikoubazl MN/TZ - RTREOCM](/sites/default/files/styles/article_hero_medium/public/almpics/2014/08/RTREOCM.jpg/RTREOCM.jpg?h=f7822858&itok=WW8bNBfi)
An influential Iranian cleric said that high-speed internet on mobile phones was “un-Islamic” because devices necessary to prevent corruption are not yet available. At the same time, Iran’s minister of communication information technology, Mahmoud Vaezi, was summoned by a parliamentary committee to respond to questions about high-speed internet.
The issue of high-speed internet was raised on the website of Grand Ayatollah Nasser Makarem Shirazi, a source of emulation and a senior conservative cleric in the Islamic Republic, by a group who introduced themselves as a “group of cyber-activists.” All sources of emulation have sections on their websites where followers can ask for religious rulings on issues, a process called “estefta.” The question and response was published on the website Aug 25.