Iranian cleric Ayatollah Naser Makarem Shirazi made international news last week when he ruled that 3G phones and high speed Internet on mobile devices should not be allowed until the proper tools are created to prevent corruption. On Aug. 31, he tried to clarify that he was not against technology, but that Western technology was like “muddy water” that needs to be “filtered.”
The official website of Makarem Shirazi responded Aug. 25 to a question by a group of “cyber activists” that in consideration of possible corruption and the lack of filtering tools, “3G mobile communication services and higher are against Sharia and moral and human norms.”