FBI investigates US professor for alleged ISIL ties

The FBI is investigating an American professor for alleged involvement with the Daesh (ISIL) terrorist group.

Julio Pino, an associate history professor at Kent State University in Ohio, has been under investigation by the FBI and the Department of Homeland Security for a year and a half, Kent Wired reported.

Law enforcement authorities have questioned faculty members and students after concerns were raised that Pino has allegedly tried to recruit students to join Daesh.

The professor told Kent Wired that he does not support Daesh and has never discussed the extremist group in his classes.

“My current status is that I’m a citizen of the United States with all the rights and obligations that that entails. I follow the law,” he said. “I advocate that others do as well, and I ask others to respect my freedom of speech as I respect theirs.”

Professor Pino, who has been at Kent State University since 1992, previously made headlines for expressing his opinions about Israel.

The pro-Palestine professor yelled “death to Israel” during a speech by former Israeli diplomat Ishmael Khaldi in 2011.

Emily Mills, editor of the Kent Stater, the campus newspaper, also said Pino is known for “shouting 'death to Israel' during an Israeli diplomat's lecture.”

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