Edinburgh law student in massive row with his uni over ‘mocking ISIS’ claim

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By Thomas Connelly on

University of Edinburgh says it’s investigating ‘complaints alleging misconduct’

Robbie Travers

An Edinburgh law student has claimed he’s currently under investigation for “mocking” the so-called Islamic State (ISIS).

Robbie Travers, who is studying law at the top Scottish university, told his 19,000 plus Facebook followers late last week (post embedded below) that someone had made a complaint against him in relation to comments he made about ISIS.

Travers appeared to quote the unnamed complainant when he said his comments had made Muslim and ethnic minority students feel “threatened” and “unsafe”. He told his army of Facebook followers that he has taken “legal advice to dismiss this nonsense.”

Twenty-four hours later and Travers was back on Facebook, and made a post which is again embedded below.

This time the LLB-er claimed he was also being investigated for a blog post he had written criticising female Islamic dress and a further Facebook post praising Prime Minister Theresa May’s decision not to wear a hijab during a visit to Saudi Arabia.

Travers, who writes regularly for right-wing think tank the Gatestone Institute, told Legal Cheek that the post in question appeared in the blogs section of The Times of Israel. Continuing, he revealed to us that the blog, along with several others, has been “temporarily removed” until the investigation concludes.

A spokesperson for the University of Edinburgh — confirming an investigation into Travers’ alleged misconduct had been launched, but denying it was in connection with “mocking ISIS” — told us:

We are committed to providing an environment in which all members of the university community treat each other with dignity and respect and our code of student conduct sets out clear expectations of behaviour. We can confirm that complaints alleging misconduct have been received against Mr Travers and these are being investigated. It is, however, untrue to suggest that Mr Travers is ‘under investigation’ for ‘mocking ISIS’.

Travers insists this is “false” and that a Facebook post cited in the complaint expressly referenced ISIS.

This isn’t the first time Edinburgh’s big name on campus (BNOC) has featured on the pages of Legal Cheek. We reported earlier this year that Travers had claimed to have been Twitter blocked by President of the United States, Donald Trump.

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