Iranian youth defies morality police

amsterdam - Iranian youth are more than fed Islamic morality police in their country. They make their smartphones en masse using a new app to circumvent strict controls.

The app, called Gershad warns users with a symbol of a bearded man and the religious police somewhere out a check. The app has now been banned by the authorities, but the Iranian youth'm usually easy to circumvent Internet censorship.

'The religious police for years caused problems for Iranian women,' says a spokesman for the team behind Gershad that keeps his identity secret for security reasons. 'Why should we give up the basic right to choose what we wear?'

Gershad uses Canadian censorship software that can be easily circumvented. The servers Gershad based outside Iran's borders, so that the security can not block the app.

Smartphones are extremely popular in Iran, where half the population is younger than 25 years. Young Iranians have been using all sorts of apps to share news and jokes that can not bring the traditional media.