After arrest, Masroor gets wave of support on Twitter

“Tonight 9 PM GMT Twitter storm #WeAreAllShami The Kuffar think we’ve abandoned him,’’ said a tweet from an individual identified as Shami al Arabi with the Twitter handle @AlArabii. In a tweet directed at UK’s Channel 4 news for exposing the identity of @shamiwitness the Shami al Arabi account holder tweeted, “Don’t think you can get the story of the year destroying a man’s life without consequences.”

The Twitter handles of nearly a dozen pro-IS Indian-origin supporters, however, remained relatively silent on the arrest with only @shababhind account retweeting a message of support for Mehdi. A tweet from the account of an individual identified as Mohammed Analyst using the handle @analyst8 tweeted that the “Character assassination of brother Mehdi is hurtful to watch. Ya Allah grant him and his family sabr. #supportShamiWitness’’.

Twitter handles like @isabahmedia4, @tawheedalhindi, @aoalhindi, @ansarfilhind, @yousufalhind, which continously aggregate and post tweets, videos and posts from pro-IS websites, including executions — much like @shamiwitness — did not have posts on the arrest.

Much of the outpouring of support for Mehdi on Twitter seemed to be coming from IS sympathisers based abroad and from a few stray supporters of free speech and advocates of democratic values.