Iran’s Cyber Police Arrests 53 IS Sympathizers In Last 20 Months

Iran’s cyber police unit, FATA claims to have arrested 53 people supporting Islamic State (IS) sympathizers on the internet over the past 20 months.

“Some of those individuals who had backed the IS dogma out of negligence were released on their own recognizance whereas the rest have remained in custody,” Head of Iran's cyber police Brigadier General Kamal Hadianfar was quoted as saying by Iranian PressTV on Monday.

During the same period, the commander says, that FATA identified 285 pro-IS websites and profiles, 108 of which were based overseas and were countered by Interpol’s help.

132 websites that promoted IS were identified and blocked in the past eight months, he said.

Hadianfar said that the majority of the individuals had been arrested in Iran’s border provinces.

A recent study published by the Washington-based Brookings Institution reviewed Twitter data from all over the world, finding that Saudi Arabia had the most pro-IS accounts.