![\"Eliot](\"https:\/\/www.thetruthseeker.co.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/Eliot-Higgins-and-Shami-Witness.jpg\")
<\/a><\/p>\nA new report has exposed the past collaboration of Eliot Higgins of Bellingcat and influential neo-conservatives with the \u201cmost influential Twitter account<\/a><\/strong><\/span>\u201d of the terror group Daesh, also known as the Islamic State (ISIL, ISIS). That collaboration helped promote the account, which posted under the Twitter handle @shamiwitness, as an \u201cexpert\u201d on foreign jihadists while also helping to promote the account\u2019s pro-Daesh messaging.<\/span><\/p>\n However, instead of being an \u201cexpert,\u201d the account was run<\/a><\/strong><\/span> by an Indian marketing executive living in Bangalore by the name of\u00a0Mehdi Biswas.\u00a0 Biswas used the account to help recruit foreign extremists and lead them to Syria \u2014 where they participated in the slaughter of religious minorities, among other atrocities.<\/span><\/p>\n The explosive report, written and self-published<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>by journalist Mark Ames, extensively details how Western accounts and figures closely associated with influential government-funded think tanks helped to elevate the ShamiWitness account from \u201ca cretinous troll\u201d into a credible \u201cISIS expert\u201d who was subsequently promoted by Middle East correspondents from The New York Times <\/em>and other mainstream publications.<\/span><\/p>\n At the height of his popularity, the ShamiWitness account \u2013 which was voluntarily deleted<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>in 2014 by its owner after a Channel 4 News expos\u00e9 \u2013 had over 17,000 followers and was followed by<\/a> <\/strong><\/span>two-thirds of foreign jihadists with a presence on Twitter. When Twitter would ban an extremist\u2019s account, ShamiWitness was key to promoting the new account created to replace the banned one. ShamiWitness also helped guide foreign extremists to battlefields in Syria and actively recruited individuals to join Daesh through his social media accounts, according to a report<\/a> <\/strong>published earlier this year by George Washington University.<\/span><\/p>\n In addition, the ShamiWitness account promoted sectarian violence committed by Daesh in Syria and elsewhere and regularly shared videos of Daesh execution and beheading videos. The account also mocked female Kurdish fighters who were raped by Daesh after being captured and defended<\/a><\/strong><\/span> Daesh after Amnesty International accused the group of torturing children as young as eight, claiming that the group tortured only teenagers ages 14 and up.<\/span><\/p>\n<\/a><\/p>\n