LONDON (AFP)--- A lecture by a German expert on "Islamic anti-Semitism" at a British university was cancelled over concerns the lecturer would be attacked, The Times reported on Thursday.
The University of Leeds denied accusations that it was stifling academic freedoms when it cancelled Matthias Kuntzel’s lecture entitled "Hitler’s Legacy: Islamic anti-Semitism in the Middle East."

"I have been told that it has had to be cancelled for security reasons," Kuntzel told the daily.

"It seems there were concerns that there could be violence against my person."

Kuntzel, an expert on Iran and research associate at the Vidal Sassoon International Centre for the Study of Anti-Semitism at the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, went on to say that in his experience "nothing like this has ever happened before -- this is censorship."

"It is a controversial area but I am accustomed to debate. I value the integrity of academic debate and I feel that it really is in danger here. This is a very important subject and if you cannot address it on university property, then what is a university for?"

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The University of Leeds, however, said the reason the lecture had been cancelled was because proper stewarding arrangements for it had not been made.

Ahmed Sawalem, the president of the university’s student Islamic Society, said that he had contacted the vice-chancellor’s office to file an official complaint, but said the group had not asked for the event to be cancelled.