A report has revealed that the prominent pro-Islamic State (IS) Twitter account @ShamiWitness, was operated by a Bangalore-based food executive working in an Indian food conglomerate.
According to Mashable, on Thursday afternoon, after Channel 4 News broke the news about Mehdi, the @ShamiWitness account was closed down, spurring Twitter commentary.
The man whose full name was not revealed to avoid threat to his life told Channel 4 in a telephonic interview that given a chance, he would have left everything and joined the IS, but couldn't do so since his family was financially dependent on him.
Laith Alkhoury, a researcher with Flashpoint Partners, said that @ShamiWitness has been one of the strongest voices to directly and indirectly support the radical group.
Alkhoury said that the level of Mehdi's involvement with the group could not be ascertained, adding that he was likely privy to a great amount of information within the confines of Iraq and Syria.
Thousands of posts were tweeted every month via @ShamiWitness. The account was reportedly followed by a 23-year-old British man identified as Iftikhar Jaman from Portsmouth, who went to Syria to fight for IS and was killed there in December last year.