The Syrian government banned the use of iPhone in the country to control the amount of information exchange that may cause further turmoil.

In order to keep the documentation of the current protests under wraps, the Syrian government prevented its citizen to use Apple, Inc. (Nasdaq:AAPL) iPhone. This is to prevent sending of the footages of the protests in the country that may arouse revolution.

According to the Lebanese website Al Nashara, the ban is implemented to prevent citizen's journalism and to stop activists from documenting government violence against protesters. The news agency also added that activists are being served notices from the Customs Department, a section of the Syrian Finance Ministry, stating that iPhones are now banned and warning against the use of them in the country.

If the Assad government is successful in its endeavor to stop citizen journalism, it will greatly reduce the coverage of the call for political reform as foreign media has been mostly banned from the country. For this reason, pictures, video and information from people on the streets has been instrumental in reporting on the unrest in Syria. Protests began in January of this year and its estimated that approximately 4,000 people have been killed since.

Apple seeks to ban the sales of its rival South Korean-company Samsung in many parts of the world with 80 patent infringement cases. However, it seems that the latter gained from this order from the government although Syria is not a significant market to Apple. Still, market is a market. Moreover, other smartphones are not included in the ban.

The ban also prohibits the importation of Apple's iPhone in Syria. The Syrian government did not explain why it banned iPhone only and not include other smartphones.

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