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.
