A British judge on Monday jailed notorious far-right campaigner Tommy Robinson for 18 months after he admitted contempt of court in a long-running defamation case involving a Syrian refugee.
The sentence is the latest jail term for one of Britain’s most prominent anti-Muslim activists, accused of helping to instigate anti-immigration riots earlier this year.
It came after Robinson – whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon – pleaded guilty to 10 breaches of a 2021 High Court order on Monday.
It prevents the 41-year-old far-right man from repeating false allegations he made about a Syrian refugee who successfully sued him for defamation.
Sentencing him to 18 months’ jail at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London, Judge Jeremy Johnson said Robinson’s actions were a “planned, deliberate, direct, blatant breach of court orders”.
The judge said, “No one is above the law. No one can decide which injunction they follow and which they do not.”
“It is in the interest of the entire community that the injunction is followed.”
Robinson, wearing a gray suit and waistcoat without a tie, was taken into custody while some of his supporters watched in court.
He had surrendered himself to police on Friday, after an arrest warrant was issued for failing to appear at a court hearing on the case in July.
Lawyers for the Solicitor General, a senior government position that advises on legal matters and pursues such cases, said during the hearing that Robinson was “thumbing his nose at the court”.
‘washed out’
It accused him of “undermining” the rule of law, including helping to publish a film last year called “Silenced” that contained defamatory allegations.
The film rests at the top of Robinson’s profile on the social media site X.
The former football hooligan, who helped form the now-defunct far-right English Defense League in 2009, has found himself back in court because of his “principles”, his lawyers argued.
Robinson, who bills himself as a supporter of free speech, has previously served time for contempt of court, which is not a crime but could result in a prison sentence.
Many criminal cases including assault are also registered against him.
On Saturday, thousands of his supporters and other protesters marched in central London demanding his release as well as stricter immigration laws.
Robinson, who has spent time outside Britain in recent months, has reportedly amassed a large following online because of his blatant anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant message.
Protestors could be heard chanting his name during anti-immigrant riots that broke out in England and Northern Ireland in late July and early August.
He was widely condemned for a stream of social media posts during the week of violence that spread false rumors that the suspect behind the fatal stabbings of three young girls was a Muslim asylum seeker.
He has been a familiar sight at far-right rallies over the past few years, but has seen his profile rise in the last year after his X account was reinstated following his purchase of the platform by billionaire Elon Musk.
(Except for the headline, this story has not been edited by NDTV staff and is published from a syndicated feed.)
