Far-right Islamophobe Tommy Robinson has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after admitting he violated a court order by repeating false allegations about a Syrian refugee schoolboy.
The 41-year-old, real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, appeared at Woolwich Crown Court after failing to attend a previous contempt hearing.
A 2021 High Court order prohibited Robinson from repeating libellous claims against Jamal Hijazi, who successfully sued him for libel. Robinson was ordered to pay £100,000 in damages plus approximately £500,000 in legal costs.
The Solicitor General brought two contempt claims against Robinson this year, alleging he “knowingly” breached the order multiple times.
When asked by Mr Justice Johnson if he accepted the breaches, Robinson replied, “Yes.”
“In a democratic society underpinned by the rule of law, court orders must be obeyed,” said Mr Justice Johnson. “Nobody is above the law. Nobody can pick or choose which laws or which injunctions they obey.”
A small group of his far-right supporters gathered outside the court, displaying Union Jack and Israeli flags.
In a separate case, Robinson was remanded in custody on Friday after surrendering himself at Folkestone Police Station in Kent. He faces charges under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act 2000 for failing to provide his mobile phone PIN.
Robinson was in the UK to lead an extremist rally in London on Saturday but was remanded in custody.
Repeating defamatory allegations about Hijazi
The judge reduced the maximum two-year sentence by 10% due to Robinson’s guilty plea, resulting in the 18-month prison term. He admitted 10 breaches of a High Court order during the hearing.
The contempt charges stemmed from Robinson’s repeated broadcasting of false and defamatory allegations against the schoolboy, including during a screening of his film ‘Silenced’ at Trafalgar Square.
The documentary contained the prohibited allegations and remains pinned to Robinson’s X (formerly Twitter) profile. He also repeated the claims in three separate interviews between February and June 2023.
The case originated from a 2018 incident at Almondbury Community School in Huddersfield, where Hijazi was filmed being attacked. Robinson subsequently made false allegations about Hijazi on social media.
According to Hijazi’s legal team, these baseless claims had ‘a devastating effect’ on the family, who received death threats and were forced to relocate, disrupting his education.
Posting on his X account, Robinson wrote: “I’ll be jailed for two years for showing the inconceivable truth.”
Nick Lowles, CEO of the campaign group Hope Not Hate, said: “Tommy Robinson knowingly and repeatedly broke a court injunction which forbid him from repeating libellous claims against a young Syrian refugee, Jamal Hijazi.
“Tommy Robinson thought he was above the law but the team at Hope Not Hate painstakingly brought together an 86-page dossier of evidence of how Robinson travelled the world profiting from Jamal’s pain.
“As recently as June, Tommy tried to deny any wrongdoing but when faced with our mountain of evidence, he doubled down playing the entire documentary containing the lies at his July 2024 demonstration in London.”
