Indian Police: Shami Witness Just a Cheerleader

By Jeralyn, Section War In Iraq
Posted on Fri Dec 26, 2014 at 08:11:00 AM EST
Tags: Shami Witness, ISIS, Iraq, Sryia (all tags)

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Indian police, with the help of Twitter, have now gone through Shami Witness' (Mehdi Masroor Biswas)list of 17,000 plus followers and his tweets. What have they found?

Sources privy to the investigation, meanwhile, admitted that sleuths are yet to find anything incendiary, which involves Mehdi directly. An officer said they haven't come across any tweet in which Mehdi asks for specific acts of terrorism to be committed. "He is more of a cheerleader. He supported ISIS activities, shared messages backing the outfit and egged on the cadres, saying what they were doing was right," he said.

Out of his 17,000 followers, police were interested in about 50 of them. They sent those 50 emails, asking the following questions: [More...]

How and why did you come into contact with Mehdi?

Have you met him physically; if yes, why, when and how many times?

Are you in touch with any other ISIS activist in any other way?

Not surprisingly, they didn't get a lot of replies.

Shami's custody ends January 2. It has already been extended once. Will police try to extend it again? Enough is enough. The guy is a tweeter who was faster with the news and more prolific than most. He didn't recruit for ISIS, he had no contact with ISIS leadership, he wasn't paid by ISIS. Is it a crime to report favorably about a group everyone hates? If so, then millions more Twitter users, including some journalists and expert analysts and researchers should be in jail.

Free Shami Witness.

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Indian Police: Shami Witness Just a Cheerleader | 9 comments (9 topical)

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Just What Did He Like About ISIS? (none / 0) (#1)
by RickyJim on Fri Dec 26, 2014 at 08:35:33 AM EST

karma (none / 0) (#2)
by thomas rogan on Fri Dec 26, 2014 at 07:37:44 PM EST

Well, of course he shouldn't be arrested if he didn't break the law of India and was simply a cheerleader. On the other hand, maybe being a cheerleader for ISIS gave him a whole load of bad karma, which might explain why he is the victim of a wrongful arrest in the first place.

You sort of promoted (none / 0) (#3)
by Militarytracy on Fri Dec 26, 2014 at 09:58:16 PM EST

Him as some sort of expert though J prior to all this. Not just you, many others too. I never understood how he was an expert before all this. But now, after all this promotion of his "factual" writings I'm supposed just up and believe he knew nothing and was in communication with no one?

He's just another internet loudmouth, MT (none / 0) (#4)
by Mr Natural on Fri Dec 26, 2014 at 10:04:29 PM EST

In WWII, in our country, his actions would probably have landed him in prison.

Imagine our reaction, then, to 17,000 pro Nazi tweets.


: I don't believe much of the IS (none / 0) (#5)
by Militarytracy on Fri Dec 26, 2014 at 10:18:41 PM EST

Propaganda. I never have. I don't believe that with all the nations allied against them they are a monumental worry or challenge either. Just a matter of time.
But after Pearl Harbor, sure, we would have believed a lot of insane things. We did believe some pretty nutty stuff, stripped some Americans of all their rights in an instance.
Such pushovers though lately. We'll believe almost anything about IS and how tough and competent they are while simultaneously believing that the FBI is completely incapable of finding their arse with both hands and a map...

No, it isn't a crime (none / 0) (#6)
by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 27, 2014 at 09:55:58 AM EST

to report favorably about a group everyone hates?

But the distinction is "why."

This is not the Greenbay Packers being supported by a fan in Chicago.

ISIS is hated because of their killings, torture, etc. They are evil personified.

If a civilized society allows support, cheerleading if you please, then that society is defacto supporting the group.

And yes, I see the slippery slope regarding freedom of speech but there is no reason to let our concern override our impulse to not allow such groups as ISIS to be aided.

By keeping him on ice (none / 0) (#7)
by Mordiggian 88 on Sat Dec 27, 2014 at 10:27:10 AM EST

They give him more dignity than he deserves. Releasing him and ignoring him would be the best response, as his speech is hardly shouting fire in a crowded theatre.

The best way to fight ISIS is not to make a martyr of this guy. If they want martyrs, let the US Air Force and the Peshmerga make them on the front lines of their so-called state.


The best way to fight ISIS (none / 0) (#8)
by jimakaPPJ on Sat Dec 27, 2014 at 03:07:50 PM EST

is not to make a martyr of this guy

Perhaps.

That assumes that all the assessments of how weak they are is correct. The thousands upon thousands now dead, and I, are not presauded.

And the shouting fire in a crowded theater is not a good analogy in that his actions do not immediately cause a panic and the resulting harm.

OTOH, this situation reminds me of a cancer. And the surgeon must remove all or it will just keep growing.

Interestingly enough it may be people who don't support ISIS who will martyr him.


: The question isn't how (none / 0) (#9)
by Mordiggian 88 on Sat Dec 27, 2014 at 03:31:50 PM EST

Weak or strong ISIS is, the fact remains that ignoring him is the best way to deal with him.
As for your suggestion, his death by non-ISIS people is the one SURE way to make him a martyr.
Hey, you just made a suggestion that might benefit
ISIS. Why don't you go to India and turn yourself in?