Islamic State’s Twitter handler is an Indian businessman

United Kingdom broadcaster Channel 4 revealed recently in an interview that the man behind Shami Witness (derived from al-Sham, the Arabic word for the Levant), the most influential pro-Islamic State (IS) Twitter account followed by foreign jihadists, was an Indian businessman from the city of Bangalore. The man, Mehdi Masroor Biswas, who is not in Syria as previously thought, is now being hunted by the Indian police and is said to have fled the city. His Twitter handle, which had 18,000 followers, also seems to have been shut down.

The man, who goes by the name Mehdi, lived a relatively secular lifestyle, which could be attested to by pictures he posted on Facebook. The clean-shaven Mehdi’s Facebook profile “was filled with pictures of pizza nights out with friends, discussions of action movies, and fond reminiscences of Hawaiian-themed parties at work.”