SYRIA HAS REPORTEDLY banned the use of Apple’s iPhone in what will be seen as an attempt to stop pictures and videos of the ongoing violent crackdown of anti-government protesters there from spreading beyond the country.

According to the Lebansese news website El Nashra, authorities have banned the use of the smartphone “because of the features prohibited and issued by the regulatory body for communications under penalty of confiscation and prosecution.”

El Nashra cites a copy of a statement issued by the Customs Department of the Syrian Finance Ministry.

While most foreign media are banned from Syria, iPhones could be used to disseminate footage of mounting protests against the rule of president Bashar Assad.

Forces loyal to Assad have cracked down on the anti-government demonstrations with the UN saying that more than 4,000 people have been killed in the country since mid-March.

Yesterday, 25 activists were reported to have died after fierce clashes in the restive northwestern city of Idlib.

One Syrian activist told the The Times of South Africa that the fact iPhones have been banned would leave recently deceased Apple co-founder Steve Jobs “turning in his grave on learning that his iconic device is banned in his home country”.

Jobs’s biological father Abdel Fattah Jandali is a Syrian and according to the Times of India he has come out against the government, saying he is in “solidarity” with the Syrian people.

Read: UN rights chief calls for international support for Syrian civilians

Read: 25 killed in fresh Syrian violence