Robinson sentenced to 13 months after admitting offence following Facebook broadcast
Tommy Robinson, the founder of the far-right
English Defence League, has been jailed for 13 months for contempt of court.
The 35-year-old’s sentence can be revealed after a judge lifted reporting restrictions on the case on Tuesday. The case had been widely discussed on social media, where rightwing activists claimed that the restrictions amounted to state censorship.
Robinson was arrested on Friday after broadcasting an hour-long video over Facebook from outside Leeds crown court. In the video he made comments that risked causing a trial to collapse.
Robinson pleaded guilty to contempt of court. He was arrested, charged and sentenced within five hours.
A court order is in place to prevent any reporting of the details of the trial in question. Another court order preventing reporting of Robinson’s arrest and the subsequent court proceedings was lifted on Tuesday after a challenge by Leeds Live and the Independent.
The restriction was put in place temporarily to prevent reporting on the Robinson case prejudicing the outcome of the first trial. It was lifted after a judge heard submissions that the order was already being widely violated by members of the public online.
Robinson attempted to film defendants entering the court and spoke about the case. The video was viewed more than 250,000 times.
Robinson’s arrest provoked protests in Whitehall on Saturday. Supporters were seen carrying placards reading “#FreeTommy” and shouting “shame on you”. A change.org petition calling for his release had received nearly 500,000 signatures by Tuesday afternoon.
Last year Robinson was given a suspended sentence for committing contempt during a rape trial in Canterbury, after he attempted to film the defendants. He had been told that he would go to prison if he broke the law again.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, was sentenced to 10 months for contempt of court and a further three months for breaching the terms of the previous suspended sentence.
Robinson’s supporters had posted online that his arrest was an infringement of his freedom of speech. On Sunday Donald Trump Jr, the US president’s son, retweeted one of Robinson’s supporters, adding: “Don’t let America follow in those footsteps.”
The Dutch far-right opposition leader Geert Wilders posted a video on Twitter, filmed from outside the British embassy in The Hague, describing Robinson’s prison sentence as “an absolute disgrace”.
He accused the judge of issuing a gagging order and said that freedom of speech was being violated all over Europe. “The lights of freedom are going out,” he said. “The authorities are trying to silence us.”