Kent State Prof Investigated Over Alleged Ties to ISIS
Kent State University professor Julio Cesar Pino is being investigated by the FBI because of alleged links to ISIS, and another probe found posts on his Facebook page which celebrated Osama bin Laden and pressed Al Qaeda soldiers to support the ISIS army.
Fox News’ Cody Derespina quotes from the Facebook post:
“Sheik Osama (May Allah be Pleased with Him) was the greatest, and desrves (sic) praise for kicking off this jihad,” one post from an account in Julio Cesar Pino’s name begins. “However, the organization he left behind is not the same AQ he founded. The brave warriors of AQAP and the Nusraf Jabbat should join #IslamicState.”
The post has been deleted but was saved in a screenshot taken by The Clarion Project, a research institute in New York that keeps track of international terrorism.
A spokeswoman confirmed to the Akron Beacon Journal that the bureau was looking into the associate professor of history’s possible ties to ISIS. Pino’s Muslim name is Assad Jibril Pino, as he explains in his essay “Born in the Fist of the Revolution: A Cuban Professor’s Journey to Allah.”
According to a spokesperson for Kent State, Pino is still teaching at the university. The school is cooperating with the FBI and cannot comment on what is an ongoing investigation. The Bureau has assured Kent State there is no threat to anyone on the campus.
Pino, born in Cuba and a convert to Islam, says he has never broken the law, supported violence, or approved of violent organizations. He thinks the probe is taking place because of his history of discussing controversial issues occurring in the Middle East.
But Emily Mills, editor-in-chief of the student paper the Kent Stater, said the FBI interviewed her and explained that they were interested in knowing more about his alleged ties to the Islamic State. They added that there would be questions asked of other students and faculty members.
Officials shared with WOIO-TV that the FBI has open cases concerning ISIS in every American state, but does not expect to file charges in the Pino matter in the near future.
Before Pino’s recent activities, he made waves by yelling “Death to Israel” as a former Israeli diplomat was giving a speech in 2011. In 2002, he wrote a eulogy for a Palestinian teenage suicide bomber that was published in The Kent Stater.
Another concern is the fact that some believed that Pino could be recruiting Kent State students to join ISIS, according to an unnamed FBI agent who shared this information with the student collaboration of television programming and the student newspaper The Kent Stater, KentWired..
Pino countered by stating that he does not support the Islamic State and has never discussed the Islamic State in his classroom. The associate professor is a former Fulbright Scholar, a member of Phi Beta Kappa, has written numerous magazine and journal articles and a book entitled “Family and Favela: The Reproduction of Poverty in Rio de Janeiro.” He is a tenured professor at Kent State.
The investigation has been going on for more than a year and a half, reports Christopher Brennan of the New York Daily News. Pino told KentWired that he is a United States citizen and has all the rights and responsibilities that are included in that position.
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