Tommy Robinson, a far-right activist whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has been jailed for 18 months after admitting contempt of court. Yaxley-Lennon admitted to 10 breaches of a High Court order made in 2021, during a hearing at Woolwich Crown Court. The injunction prevented Yaxley-Lennon from repeating false claims made against a Syrian refugee, Jamal Hijazi, whom he alleged to be a violent thug. The claims were ruled as defamation, leading to Hijazi winning £100,000 in damages.
The hearing on Monday was the result of events that occurred in October 2018, when a video went viral showing Hijazi being attacked by another teenager at his school. Yaxley-Lennon posted his own response to this video on Facebook, claiming his own investigation had established that Hijazi was violent, which was proven untrue. This led to the Syrian teenager and his family receiving death threats. In February 2023, Yaxley-Lennon began repeating these false claims on film, which subsequently spread and received 47 million views.
On citing Yaxley-Lennon’s behaviour, Aidan Eardley commented that “This is a high culpability case because of the high number of breaches. It is a continuing breach, the material is still out there and some of it is under the defendant’s control”. While Sasha Wass argued he was a journalist and passionate about free speech, Aidan Eardley argued that Yaxley-Lennon was “intending to repeat false allegations… then take ‘evasive’ measures”.
Jailing Yaxley-Lennon for 18 months, Mr Justice Johnson stated, “In a democratic society underpinned by the rule of law, court orders must be obeyed. Nobody is above the law… even if they believe that an injunction is… contrary to their views they must comply with the injunction”. This case was the fourth contempt case he has faced, having previously received a suspended sentence and a six-month jail term. He has also been separately charged with failing to unlock his phone for police when he was stopped and questioned at a port under counter-terrorism powers. He will appear in court over this allegation in November
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