IS prisoner: IS fighters use internet only with permission of senior leaders
The IS detainee explained that Senior IS leaders had unrestricted access to the internet but regular fighters were denied access except under supervision.
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ERBIL, Kurdistan Region (Kurdistan24) – Kirkuk police arrested an Islamic State (IS) militant who offered internet access and technical support to the extremist group.
Kurdistan24 TV broadcasted the confessions of an IS accomplice whose identity was not revealed by the police.
He stated that he had helped IS extremists in southern Kirkuk and Hawija by offering them technical support and providing them access to the internet.
“When IS took control of the Hawija, southern Kirkuk, they banned the internet-use for public and limited it to a selected group among their own member,” he told Kurdistan24.
The arrested IS member said that with his friend, he had been working in an Internet shop before the IS occupation.
“My colleague talked to IS senior members to get approval to open the internet hall again; they approved our request upon the condition that users ask for permission from senior IS leaders,” he said.
The IS detainee explained that Senior IS leaders had unrestricted access to the internet but regular fighters were denied access except under supervision.
"Therefore, they would visit our cafe after they got their permissions. We did not allow anyone to use the internet without that permission,” he added.
According to the arrested IS member, Jihadists would mostly use Telegram to communicate with each other.
He revealed that refilling the internet credit was through the Nineneve Plain office in Mosul.
"We were in contact with them, buying 50 gigabyte with 300 USD and 100 gigabyte with 600 USD," he added.
The arrested IS member complained that he had a small profit margin due to the expensive price of internet credits.
Editing by Ava Homa
(Soran Kamaran from Kirkuk contributed to this report)