Julio Pino
Overview
Julio Pino [Assad Jibril Pino] was investigated for allegedly supporting ISIS and pled guilty to charges of lying to the Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) in April 2018.Following his guilty plea, Pino was terminated from his position as an associate professor of History, specializing in Latin American History and the Third World at Kent State University (KSU).
Pino has also praised terrorists, promoted armed jihad and demonized Israel and Israelis.
Investigated for Alleged ISIS Ties
On January 19, 2016, Pino was reportedly under FBI investigation for allegedly supporting ISIS and trying to recruit students for the terrorist group. An FBI representative announced that a joint terrorism task force had been investigating Pino for a year and a half prior to the report being made public.KSU President Beverly Warren released a statement on January 20, 2016, that the university was cooperating fully with the FBI in its ongoing investigation. She also stressed that “As a university, we do not defend his views, and he does not speak on behalf of Kent State or members of our community.”
Despite his open support for terror, KSU opted not to fire Pino on the grounds that he had the protection of tenure and that his comments constituted acceptable free speech.
Federal Charges
On April 23, 2018, Pino was reported to be the subject of a second FBI investigation, facing a new charge by federal prosecutors.The new charge included one count of lying to the FBI about contacts with a Facebook friend who posted threats against a family court judge.
Following the new charge, Pino’s attorney stated that “Pino has put in to retire from Kent State University at the end of this semester.”
According to a report published on April 27, 2018, Pino “entered his plea to one count of making a false statement to law enforcement. Under his agreement, both he and federal prosecutors have agreed to ask a judge to sentence him to between 10 and 16 months in federal prison.”
The same article reported that “Following his charging, Kent State suspended Pino and barred him from going onto any of its campuses.”
Another article published on April 26, 2018 reported that “Executive Director of University Media Relations with KSU Eric Mansfield said Pino will be fired.”
The article went on to include a statement released by Mansfield, which explained that “Kent State University is moving forward in accordance with personnel policies in terminating the employment of Julio Pino. He remains suspended from the university, and is prohibited from coming on to any Kent State campus.”
On September 27, 2018, it was reported in an article on Cleveland.com that Pino “was sentenced Wednesday to five months in prison, followed by five months' home detention, for lying to the FBI.” The article also noted that Pino “will remain on probation for three years and he will not be allowed to use the Internet without permission from his probation officer.”
Praising Terrorists
On May 25, 2015, Pino praised on Facebook Al Qaeda founder Osama bin Laden, who claimed responsibility for the deadly 9/11 attack on Manhattan’s World Trade Center. He further urged al Qaeda fighters to merge with ISIS.Pino wrote “Sheik Osama (May Allah be Pleased with Him) was the greatest, and deserves (sic) praise for kicking off this jihad… The brave warriors of AQAP and the Nusraf Jabbat should join #Islamic State.”
On November 22, 2014, Pino updated the cover photo on his Facebook page to show ISIS militants in Aleppo, Syria. Under another photo of ISIS jihadists, uploaded in September 2014, Pino wrote: "Keep it a secret: that's me on the left!"
On April 21, 2014, Pino posted a Facebook photo of himself taken in front of the U.S. Capitol building and commented that he had contacted Ziad Jarrah, one of the 9/11 hijackers before their deadly attack. Pino wrote that "I told Ziad Jarah [sic] to head for the Capitol, but did he listen? No!"
Under another photo of the same building Pino wrote “I come to bury D.C., not to praise it.”
Promoting Jihad
In a November 9, 2013 Facebook comment, Pino recalled listening to a Salafist Imam preaching in the Arabian Peninsula, writing that "all [he] kept thinking about was Palestine and al-Shams and all the other jihad lands."On September 6, 2012, Pino updated his Facebookcover picture to an image glorifying Hamas.
In 2007, Pino was accused of writing for the now-defunct blog Global War, a self-titled a “jihadist news service” that provide battle dispatches, training manuals and jihad videos for our brothers worldwide”
The blog reportedly called for the mass murder of Jews and American soldiers, supplied readers with explicit bomb-making instructions and declared support for the Taliban and al Qaeda.
In 2002, Pino reportedly wrote an opinion column applauding 18-year-old suicide bomber, Ayat al-Akhras, who detonated herself in a Jerusalem supermarket, murdering three people.
Demonizing Israel and Israelis
In 2011, Pino shouted “Death To Israel” at Ishmael Khaldi, a Bedouin diplomat from Israel’s foreign ministry. Khaldi had been presenting a lecture at KSU and serving as deputy consul general at the Israeli consulate in San Francisco,
KSU President Lester Lefton issued a statement that Pino’s treatment of Khaldi was "reprehensible, and an embarrassment to our university." Lefton added that "we value critical thinking at this university, and encourage students to engage with ideas that they find difficult or make them uncomfortable… Calling for the destruction of the state from which our guest comes (as do some of our students, faculty and community members) is a grotesque failure to model these values."
On August 2, 2014, Pino penned an open letter accusing the pro-Israel academic community of being “directly responsible” for the murder of “Palestinian children, women and elderly civilians.”
Pino claimed that the academics were “culpable” of “actual, cold-blooded, calculated killing” and said that “... while The Chosen drain the blood of innocents without apologies you hide behind the mask of academic objectivity, nobility of research and the reward of teaching to foreign youth----in a segregated university, of course.”
Pino also labeled Israel “a regime that is the spiritual heir to Nazism.” He signed the open letter “Jihad until victory!”
The letter was later condemned by KSU as "reprehensible and irresponsible."
KSU President Lester Lefton issued a statement that Pino’s treatment of Khaldi was "reprehensible, and an embarrassment to our university." Lefton added that "we value critical thinking at this university, and encourage students to engage with ideas that they find difficult or make them uncomfortable… Calling for the destruction of the state from which our guest comes (as do some of our students, faculty and community members) is a grotesque failure to model these values."
On August 2, 2014, Pino penned an open letter accusing the pro-Israel academic community of being “directly responsible” for the murder of “Palestinian children, women and elderly civilians.”
Pino claimed that the academics were “culpable” of “actual, cold-blooded, calculated killing” and said that “... while The Chosen drain the blood of innocents without apologies you hide behind the mask of academic objectivity, nobility of research and the reward of teaching to foreign youth----in a segregated university, of course.”
Pino also labeled Israel “a regime that is the spiritual heir to Nazism.” He signed the open letter “Jihad until victory!”
The letter was later condemned by KSU as "reprehensible and irresponsible."
Social Media and Weblinks
Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/julio.pino.73 [Deleted]
- Status:
- Professor
- University:
- Kent-State
- Organizations:
- N/A
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- Last Modified:
- 06/23/2025
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Infamous Quotes
“Sheik Osama (May Allah be Pleased with Him) was the greatest, and desrves (sic.) praise for kicking off this jihad….The brave warriors of AQAP and the Nusraf Jabbat should join #IslamicState.”
"All I kept thinking about was Palestine and al-Shams and all the other jihad lands."
“Dear academic friends of Israel. I hold you directly responsible for the murder of over 1,400 Palestinian children, women and elderly civilians over the past month. This is not symbolic or even legally justified homicide on your part but actual, cold-blooded, calculated killing, for which you are culpable.”
“I curse you more than the Israelis, for while The Chosen drain the blood of innocents without apologies you hide behind the mask of academic objectivity, nobility of research and the reward of teaching to foreign youth----in a segregated university, of course. Lest you think this is a personal attack I swear it applies equally to all who engage in collaboration with fascism, and we both know the fate of collaborators. In the same manner, only with more zeal, than you have sworn to the Jewish State I pledge to you, and every friend and stooge of Zionism, Hasta la victoria siempre! Jihad until victory!”
