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The venerable Old Bailey courthouse was the scene on Thursday as citizen-journalist Tommy Robinson was sentenced to nine months in prison after being convicted of contempt-of-court last Friday. Robinson will reportedly serve only 10 additional weeks of the sentence as he was previously jailed last year on the same charge.
Robinson, wearing a dark tee-shirt with the phrase, “Convicted of Journalism” on the front with “Britain = North Korea” on the back, turned to the public gallery and winked as he was being led back to the holding cells.
Robinson is being imprisoned for the crime of livestreaming outside the Leeds Crown Courthouse in May of 2018, while the trial of several Muslim men accused of committing sexual abuse against minor girls was ongoing. The 20 men, collectively known as the Huddersfield Grooming Gang, were convicted of 120 separate offenses against 15 girls in October of 2018.
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The three-judge panel concluded that they had no choice but to imprison Robinson. “We are in no doubt that the custody threshold is crossed in this case, in particular having regard to the common law contempt that the respondent committed,” said Dame Victoria Sharp, one of the judges.
“Nothing less than a custodial penalty would properly reflect the gravity of the conduct we have identified.”
Robinson — real name Steven Yaxley-Lennon — is the former head of the English Defense League, an organization dedicated to preventing the slow takeover of British society by Islamic immigrants. The organization still exists although it has been de-platformed by every major social media company.
Robinson reportedly breached a reporting restriction on the trial with his livestream and, according to the judges, interfered with the trial by “aggressively confronting and filming” some of the defendants. Sharp said last week, “In our judgment, the respondent’s conduct in each of those respects amounted to a serious interference with the administration of justice.”
Sharp also claimed that Robinson encouraged “vigilante action” during his livestream outside of the court.
Robinson, 36, vehemently denies the charge and claims he was very careful in only relaying information that was already public knowledge.
Attorney General Geoffrey Cox was delighted with the verdict. “Posting material online that breaches reporting restrictions or risks prejudicing legal proceedings is a very serious matter and this is reflected in the court’s decision today.”
He added, “I would urge everyone to think carefully about whether their social media posts could amount to contempt-of-court.”
Cox was responsible for bringing the fresh contempt charges against Robinson back in March.
Robinson’s sentencing caused chaos outside the court as his supporters reacted to the decision with chants demanding his release. Supporters then marched to Parliament Square. Protestors also reportedly hurled objects and riot police needed to be brought in. London police reported eight arrests.
Today, on his Telegram account, Robinson posted, “Sentenced to prison for journalism. Time for protests to start, this is an absolute joke!” Robinson added, “Protest outside whatever prison I’m in on Saturday please.”
Earlier this week, Robinson was seen on Alex Jones’ Infowars program where he begged President Trump to grant him and his family emergency political asylum. During the appearance, Robinson lamented, “I feel like I’m two days away from being sentenced to death.”
Unfortunately for Robinson, the president was unmoved by his plea. “I beg Donald Trump, I beg the American government, to look at my case. I need evacuation from this country because dark forces are at work.”
Dark forces indeed. For more than a decade, Robinson has been busy exposing the phenomenon of the sexual grooming gangs in the United Kingdom. One statistic shows that 84 percent of these gangs are of “Asian” decent. But really, the more important identifier of the gangs is not their “Asian” decent, but their religion, which is predominantly Muslim.
But Great Britain’s PC culture cannot abide the fact that the vast majority of these sexual exploitive gangs are Muslim. Politicians and media in the UK wanted to keep that fact a secret. Thus, Robinson’s real crime is shedding a bright light on that fact.
Photo of Tommy Robinson: AP Images
