E-Paper
IS launches campaign to free Mehdi
Bengal boy Mehdi Masroor Biswas has become the talking point around the world. Officials of the Islamic State (IS) have started a 'Free Shami Witness' campaign while Kurd fighters celebrated his arrest.
Prefer HTon Google
Bengal boy Mehdi Masroor Biswas has become the talking point around the world. Officials of the Islamic State (IS) have started a 'Free Shami Witness' campaign while Kurd fighters celebrated his arrest.
Biswas had a running battle in cyberspace with Kurd fighters who were stridently opposed to Biswas' posts.
"Bengaluru ruthless police arrest brother Mehdi Masroor Biswas as owner of @ShamiWitness Twitter account," reads a tweet from the Twitter handle @IS_WorldPress on the launch of the campaign. "He isn't a poor guy... he is a truthful media hero (and) a freedom of rights analyst," reads another tweet.
IS supporters from around the world tweeted in favour of Biswas and criticised his arrest. "We should do a twitterstorm at a specific time on Saturday (with #FreeShamiWitness). The Kuffar think we have abandoned him," tweeted @al_pasha_. "We all miss #ShamiWitness. Twitter isn't the same without his news," tweeted @SaifAlRasheed97.
On the other hand, supporters and activists of the Kurd guerrilla army PKK - who have been battling IS militants - cheered the news of Biswas' arrest.
They uploaded morphed pictures in which Biswas was seen behind bars, wearing a Christmas hat.
Kurd activists recently had a heated exchange with Biswas on Twitter, as Biswas supported the IS militants' atrocities on Kurd women, including rape and beheading.
One tweet from him had particularly enraged them: "I should thank PKK for recruiting female fighters, specially the ones caught alive by rebels. Lol," Biswas had tweeted.
