A controversial Islamic lecturer has defended his speeches at two Sussex universities.

Hamza Tzortzis addressed an audience at the University of Sussex in January and the University of Brighton in February, The Argus has learned.

Mr Tzortzis, formerly a member of the now banned Hitz ut-Tahrir group, has been called a critic of free speech, and labelled a homophobe, all of which he denies.

He was repeatedly named this week in a report by Student Rights, which claims to be fighting extremism on campuses, as allegedly being involved in university events during which men and women were segregated.

Mr Tzortzis told The Argus: “In Islamic law, the act of homosexuality is considered a sin, but having homosexual thoughts is not.

“However, we should not ever treat the LGBT community with injustice, hatred or discrimination.”

Mr Tzortzis is an Islamic Education and Research Academy (IERA) member.

The group has been banned by University College London for allegedly attempting to separate male and female audience members at one of his lectures.

Saleem Chagtai, spokesman at IERA, said: “We categorically deny enforcing segregation at any of our events.”

Mr Chagtai said IERA had acted in full accordance with equalities legislation by having seating for people of all faiths, and non-believers.
 

On the issue of gender separation at UK universities, the Student Rights group produced a report looking at 180 events from March 2012 to March 2013.

It found that 46 of these events at 21 separate institutions were found to have explicitly or implicitly promoted gender segregation.

But National Union of Students vice- president welfare officer Pete Mercer called the report a “witch hunt”.

A Student Rights spokesperson said: “Research into the levels of extremism on the UK’s campuses does not consti- tute a witch hunt, and it is hysterical accusations like this which hamper efforts to have an honest and open debate on the matter.

“Student Rights has no interest in demonising Muslim students and notes that they are often the victims of extremism, with far-right and anti-Shia speakers amongst those logged by our monitoring programme.

“We are committed to exposing all forms of extremism on the UK’s campuses, including that from far-right and Christian groups, and are keen to work with Muslim students who are targeted by these groups.”

Student Rights did not produce evi- dence that Mr Tzortzis’ event in Sussex involved segregation.