An influential Twitter account dedicated to the spread of pro-Islamic State propaganda has disappeared following the outing of its handler by a London-based news group.
Channel 4 News reported this week that the “Shami Witness” Twitter account was not controlled by a zealot operating out of the regions in Iraq and Syria captured by the Islamic State, but a seemingly mild-mannered Bangalore executive named Mehdi.
The London news group decided not to reveal Mehdi’s full name in order to protect him from violence.
“May allah guide, protect, strengthen and expand the Islamic State … Islamic State brought peace, autonomy, zero corruption, low crime-rate”, the account Tweeted in November, one of many such messages of encouragement to the militant group’s thousands of fighters.
“He spent his mornings, afternoons and evenings sending thousands of tweets of propaganda about the Islamic State militant group, acting as the leading conduit of information between jihadis, supporters, and recruits,” Channel 4 News reported.
“His tweets … were seen two million times each month, making him perhaps the most influential Islamic State Twitter account, with over 17,700 followers,” Channel 4 said.
And his reach was reportedly great: With 17,700 followers, nearly two-thirds of all foreign Islamic State fighters followed Medhi’s account, which worked diligently to connect and promote like-minded users.
In short, according to Channel 4, “Shami Witness” at its peak was the “most influential pro-Islamic State Twitter account to be followed by foreign jihadis.”
But all that changed when reporters working for the London-based news group set out to unmask the mind behind the pro-terror group account. And they did, prompting the now-skittish and worried “Shami Witness” creator to delete his account and beg the news group to keep his full identity confidential.
Mehdi said the reason he didn’t go to fight with the Islamic State is because his family depends on him.
“If I had a chance to leave everything and join them I might have,” he told Channel 4 News. “My family needs me here.”
Many of Medhi’s tweets focused on the Islamic State’s day-to-day operations. Others were of a more grisly nature.
Channel 4 reported: “Shami Witness seemed to express glee at the deaths and rapes of Kurdish fighters on Twitter.”
Indeed, in a tweet that he deleted moments after sending, Medhi wrote: “I should thank PKK for recruiting female fighters, specially the ones caught alive by rebels. lol.”
He now claims that the offending tweet was “taken out of context.”
Although it’s likely difficult to gauge Mehdi’s influence on Islamic State fighters in the field, it’s worth noting that the Brookings Institute reported that the Islamic group has been extremely effective in organizing its members via the social media platform.
Islamic State operatives use Twitter “to spread and legitimize the IS’s ideology, activities, and objectives, and to recruit and acquire international support,” the institute reported in a paper published Dec. 1, 2014.
