Founder of far-right English Defense League gets 18 months in prison for court contempt
LONDON (AP) — A judge has sentenced the founder of the far-right English Defense League to a year and a half in prison for contempt of court for violating an order barring him from repeating libelous allegations against a Syrian refugee.
Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson, admitted in Woolwich Crown Court that he violated a 2021 court injunction on several occasions while giving interviews broadcast on YouTube, and in a documentary he presented during a rally in London’s Trafalgar Square in July that was also posted on his X account.
Robinson had been ordered not to repeat false allegations that a former schoolboy, Jamal Hijazi, had bullied and threatened other students. Hijazi had successfully sued him for libel and was awarded 100,000 British pounds ($130,000) in damages.
The Solicitor General found Robinson violated the injunction on 10 occasions since 2023, including by airing a documentary, titled “Silenced,” he made on the case that has been viewed more than 44 million times.
Attorney Aidan Eardley, on behalf of the Solicitor General, said that disobeying a court order created a risk that others might not respect court orders.
“The harm here is that millions of people see Mr. Yaxley-Lennon thumbing his nose at the court,” Eardley said.
Robinson, 41, who founded the nationalist and anti-Islamist EDL, is one of the most influential far-right figures in Britain. Thousands of people rallied in support of him on Saturday in central London at a Unite the Kingdom rally that he had planned but wasn’t able to attend because he had been jailed.
He has been blamed for stirring up protests that turned into a week of violent disorder across England and Northern Ireland this summer after social media users falsely identified the suspect in a stabbing rampage that killed three young girls in the seaside community of Southport as an immigrant and a Muslim.
Robinson has been jailed in the past for assault, contempt of court and mortgage fraud.
He was banned from Twitter in 2018, but he was allowed back after Elon Musk took over the social network and later renamed it X. He now has 1 million -followers.
By BRIAN MELLEY
Associated Press
