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| Terror Networks | |
| Shami Witness arrest rattles ISIS’ cages on Twitter | |
| 2014-12-20 | |
[ENGLISH.ALARABIYA.NET] The arrest of Mehdi Masroor Biswas, author of the highly influential pro-ISIS twitter account @ShamiWitness, on Saturday in Bangalore, India, is putting jihadist tweeps on notice. Deactivation, suspension and anxious-ridden tweets have been widely visible in the last two days,
"He became a hub for ISIS recruits and propaganda," that's how La Belle Frances Townsend, president of the "Counter extremism Project" (CEP), sums up the rise and fall of Shami Witness, who raked up more than 18,000 followers on Twitter in the last two years. From his executive office in India's "silicon valley," Shami Witness cheered on ISIS and its reign of horror more than 4,000 km away in Iraq and Syria. His outing and arrest this week after a Channel 4 investigation is a "very good development," Townsend tells Al Arabiya News, proving that an anonymous address and fake Twitter handles are no guarantee for impunity. Sophisticated and 'legitimate' Phillip Smyth, a researcher at the University of Maryland who had interacted with Biswas in the last two years, qualifies his strategy as "looking legitimate" while "humanizing ISIS." Millions checked the Shami Witness Twitter feed every month, among them are leading journalists and counterterrorism experts in the West, desperate for any kind of information on the krazed killer group. His strength was in his ability to break news and report firsthand developments on ISIS, which proves according to Townsend that he had direct contact with its fighters on the battlefield. Smyth's first interactions with Shami Witness were in spring of 2013, through Biswas' first account @elsaltador. "He played a neutral-slightly Islamist personality until around late 2013 before turning into full ISIS mode in 2014," Smyth tells Al-Arabiya News. The transition Smyth suspects was a reaction to Al-Qaeda's Syrian branch, the Nusra Front, whom Biswas favored originally, clashing with ISIS. During that period, Smyth says Biswas increasingly sent him privately "very sectarian posts and praised jihadist activity in Syria." Shami Witness was sophisticated enough and "understood how to manipulate the English language social media sphere for analysis and attract journalists seeking quick information and snarky posts," according to Smyth. He tweeted Abdul Rahman Kassig's beheading video and hailed arrests of Kurdish women fighters in Kobane. He also gave logistical advice at times about crossing into ISIS territory. Twitter and extremism The Shami Witness bust and arrest is sending shockwaves through jihadist Twitter circles. Some have already reconsidered and deactivated their Twitter accounts, while others are questioning the authenticity of other Jihadist accounts and possibility of intelligence agencies tracking them. | |
| Posted by:Fred |
| #2 #1 Glad to hear he was pinched. Posted by: Muggsy Platypus5898 Yeah. Now hang him. |
| Posted by: Old Patriot 2014-12-20 22:27 |
| #1 Glad to hear he was pinched. |
| Posted by: Muggsy Platypus5898 2014-12-20 00:47 |