A new Iranian 3G mobile Internet operator that has brought video-calling to Iran is flouting a fatwa issued by four grand ayatollahs.Rightel, Irans third mobile-phone operator, provides Iranians with their first ever 3G Internet services, allowing customers to use both video-call and multi-media messaging functions. The firm, which sponsored Irans recent International Fajr Film Festival, has a slick new website and accepts customers who register with their national card details. Rightel offers pay-and-go, contact and data-card packages.
Word of the service has spread fast among young Iranians who are buying SIM cards en masse. The Internet is so fast, says one new customer in Tehran, But it uses a lot of battery, so when youre not browsing you need to turn off the 3G function.
This is great. I am studying in Tehran and it is a great way to keep in touch with my mum in Shiraz, says a student in Tehran, It will be like I am home for her.
But the-video service function has piqued the ire of both Irans clerical establishment and its political hard-liners. Four grand ayatollahs Nasser Makarem-Shirazi, Hossein Nouri Hamedani , Jafar Sohbhani and Seyyed Sajjad Alavi Gorgani have issued fatwas banning Rightel.
"The decadence and corruption associated with [Rightels] use outweighs its benefits, decreed Grand Ayatollah Makarem-Shirazi. It will cause new deviances in our society, which is unfortunately already plagued with deviances. Ayatollah Alavi Gorghani said that the video-call service would jeopardize the public chastity and inflicts numerous damages on Irans religion and political system.
An anti-Rightel website called "Rightel mirage" has been set up by Irans hard-liners. Providing everyone with opium and then advising them to use it wisely, reads an op-ed on the site, cautioning against the risks video calls pose to family life.
A petition against Rightel was signed by residents of the religious city of Qom on Feb. 10, the 34th anniversary of the foundation of the Islamic Republic. It said the service would facilitate access to sin and decadence and called for countering widespread infiltration of enemy culture.
Five days ago, 17 MPs wrote a letter to President Ahmadinejad and the Intelligence Ministry calling on them to stop Rightels operations.
Live video calling has clear applications forcitizen journalismin Iran. Young Iranians are suspicious that the move against video calls will serve to limit communications during the countryspresidential electionthissummer.
The truth is that if Iranians can access a portable way to shoot video in a protest, the world will be able to see what is going on as it happens, said an Iranian who declined to be named.
By Al-Monitor
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