: How a student's use of a library book became 'a major Islamist plot'" – was submitted for a conference on terrorism held by the British International Studies Association at the University of Manchester.
[8] Later BISA published an open letter expressing "a strong feeling of unease and concern" among members over the question of academic freedom raised by Thornton's case and called for an independent inquiry into the affair.
[7][11] Commenting on Thornton's case Cathy James, chief executive of the pro-whistleblowing charity Public Concern at Work, emphasized: "It's really important that whistleblowers are supported.
[9] On 15 June the pressure group SWAN (Support the Whistleblower at Nottingham) in association with Unileaks published all of the internal and government documents referred in Thornton's paper.
A video subsequently emerged appearing to support this claim,[16] and soon after another surfaced apparently showing security members destroying a Gaza memorial.
[17] Thornton's paper also accused the University of being anti-Palestinian, citing the attempt by senior management to host the Israeli Ambassador for a 'public' talk without informing the student population.
In June 2014, at Sabir's request, the University of Nottingham held an inquiry into the marking of his MA dissertation which had led Thornton to write his BISA article.