Militant hipster Islam Yaken takes up position as the unofficial face of ISIS
Hipster militant Islam Yaken has emerged on social media as the unofficial face of the Iraq and Syria Islamic State (ISIS) jihad group responsible for uprisings in the Middle East.
Yaken's Twitter account has been active since 2011
Young university graduate Yaken, from an affluent Cairo family, has taken Twitter by storm with his photogenic documentation of the holy war.
Twitter users commented on the resemblance that the heavy-spectacled, curly-haired body builder “hipster Jihadi” has to the character of Morris Moss from British sitcom ‘the IT Crowd’.
Yaken, whose social media site is filled with gym-selfies, uses the Twitter account to support Abu Bakr al-Baghdadi’s supposed Islamic state.
Former school colleague Aliya Mikkawi, tweeted: "Islam Yaken's story is freaking scary, he used to be at school with me."
Meet Cosmo Egyptian ISIS fighter. Just left politics that Islamic terrorism poverty related. http://t.co/VBp5oWReaF pic.twitter.com/qSZPHGOyoJ — Exiled at Home (@JblJay) August 4, 2014
الواد بتاع داعش اللي بيقولو عليه وسيم معرفش من انهي ناحية..طلع مصري وخريج عين شمس https://t.co/pGJ6xzsKCW ودا فيسبوكه pic.twitter.com/2da7vxkwzn — مفتي الدولة العميقة (@The_Deep_State) August 1, 2014
Yaken, who speaks Arabic, English and French, graduated from Ain Shams University last year with a law degree. The former supporter of the deposed president Morsi of the Muslim Brotherhood, surprised his family with his swift radicalisation.
Tweeting from his ‘@Abuhanded’ account which has 8,000 followers, he said: “I spoke with my mother and told her to come and stay in this flat on the Euphrates.
"She can eat and drink and study, with the family and everything,” however she replied, “My son, what would happen if the owners of the flat came back? What will you do then?”
#Egyptians express their shock over a young cosmopolitan man named Islam Yaken, who turned into an ISIS militant pic.twitter.com/zN32JmMHh6 — Al Arabiya English (@AlArabiya_Eng) August 2, 2014
ISIS has been relying on such social media accounts as part of a PR campaign designed to attract young muslims worldwide to the warzone. The militants currently hold large areas of territory in Northern Iraq - including the country’s second city Mosul.
Last month YouTube landed itself in hot water after UK government ads appeared next to ISIS Jihadi videos.