Tommy Robinson, arrested for journalism?
Tommy Robinson, arrested for journalism?
No, arrested for repeatedly breaching a 2021 court injunction
Tommy Robison (Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) is certainly a polarising figure, his supporters view him as an oppressed voice for the long-suffering white working class, whilst his detractors paint him as a far-right extremist creating racial tensions. Like many things in life, the truth is somewhat messy.
At any one time, Tommy Robinson is involved in a number of legal cases and disputes. I wanted to focus on the most recent case of October 2024, which led to an 18 month sentence, half of which should be spent in custody. The case has triggered a large fund raising operation spearheaded by Ezra Levant of Rebel News. The narrative generated by Tommy supporters is that he has been arrested for journalism and/or unjustly imprisoned for telling the truth in his “documentary” called Silenced.
The fund raising process is using increasingly alarming claims, possibly as an encouragement for people to contribute. Ezra Levant has dramatically claimed; “make no mistake: they want to kill Tommy in prison.” In this case (like in so many others) a sanction for libel is dishonestly presented as an attack on free speech. The alt-right is now up in arms over this situation on social media and closely following Tommy’s every move between prisons.
I wanted to set out the fact that Tommy Robinson is in prison as a consequence of ten deliberate breaches of a July 2021 court injunction and not “for journalism”. In Tommy’s own words he knew what he was doing and claimed that “I planned every fucking second”. There is also a wider question over whether divisive figures like Tommy, Lawrence Fox and others help, or hinder the struggle against state overreach.
Fundraising
Fund raising projects for provocateurs tend to follow a similar script which is to say something libelous, lose the subsequent libel claim, decry this as proof of an oppressive system attacking free speech and drain followers of cash in order to pay for the consequences of their own actions. Unfortunately, many in the alternative media insist that readers contribute money and time to support their tribal leaders, whilst ignoring relevant facts.
The fund raising with Tommy Robinson is more high pressure than usual given that Ezra Levant of Rebel News has stated that “they” want to kill Tommy. There is certainly a risk of harm as Tommy Robinson was previously attacked during an earlier imprisonment at HMP Woodhill, but it is important to remember that the current imprisonment was the direct result of considered actions taken by Tommy Robinson1.
Background
This particular story started with a playground incident at the Almondbury Community School in October 2018. In the incident a schoolboy, Bailey McLaren, roughed-up another pupil, Jamal Hijazi. Doubtless dozens of similar incidents take place every day in the U.K., however in this particular case some genius videoed the event and the resulting short video went viral. The mainstream media talking heads and the Westminster political class jumped on the clip and presented this as a racially motivated attack. Establishment mouthpiece Piers Morgan went so far as to describe the assailant, Bailey McLaren, as “vermin, a racist thug”.
Rather than framing this event as a tussle between two schoolboys, the Establishment were happy to vilify Bailey McLaren and present this as a racist incident against a vulnerable Syrian refugee. Every short video clip posted on social media lacks context and can therefore be twisted to suit any agenda. The dishonest mainstream media added emotionally charged language in order to generate clicks. All such incidents have some kind of back-story, the exact ins and outs of this situation are not particularly important but critically this was not a racist incident. The police caution that Bailey McLaren subsequently received was for common assault and not racially aggravated assault and there was no racist language in the clip.
Tommy Robinson’s contribution to the debate was largely to vilify the victim, Jamal Hijazi with a number of very serious claims about assaults that Jamal had been involved in. Tommy Robinson went on to stitch together a number of hidden camera interviews describing these alleged incidents into the film called Silenced2.
Jamal Hijazi subsequently sued Tommy Robison for libel3. There was a very extensive trial in July 2021 resulting in a lengthy fifty two page judgement, the judge awarded damages of £ 100,000 to Jamal Hijazi. At the same time, the judge made an injunction which sought to prevent Tommy Robinson repeating the libellous claims against Jamal Hijazi.
Around February 2023, Tommy Robinson decided to ignore that injunction and to go ahead and repeat the 2021 claims via various interviews and also posting the film Silenced on to social media. Tommy ended up in court on 28th October 2024 where he was imprisoned for breaching the court injunction on ten separate occasions and was sentenced to 18 months, where one half of this period should be spent in custody. The judge’s decision stated “A party who has lost a case is entitled to appeal, or to disagree with the result, or to criticise the decision. But they are not entitled to disobey a court injunction”4.
It is clear from the hearing that Tommy knew exactly what he was doing, the judge noted there were no mitigating circumstances “All his actions suggest that he regards himself as being above the law, and not subject to the same requirement to comply with injunctions as everybody else.” In fact even now the film Silenced still remains posted on social media, without any attempt to edit out the accusations which were considered libellous.
It is clear that the mainstream media talking heads like Piers Morgan, who dishonestly whipped a playground incident into a racist attack of national significance and smeared Bailey McLaren are wrongdoers. Although Tommy Robison did make some positive contribution by showing the backstory, the very serious allegations that he made against Jamal Hijazi couldn’t be properly substantiated in court.
Tommy Robinson was imprisoned because he repeatedly breached the July 2021 injunction, he also failed to attend hearings, file in documents to defend himself and has a history of contempt of court. These facts are recorded in various court judgements which are available in the public domain, there is no excuse for ignoring this reality. It is more than ironic how often the Tommy “truthers” are prepared to lie about and misrepresent the real reasons for his imprisonment5.
As a dissident, I generally support anyone who opposes the establishment. Robinson’s general complaint that the state is in the stranglehold of a Leftist “long march” is true. It is also true that many institutions including: education, the police, NHS, civil service and courts have been captured by a Leftist/woke ideology. These same institutions are oppressing people with differing political views, especially anyone who wants to see immigration reduced.
Having said all of that, the victimhood of Tommy Robinson doesn’t stand up to scrutiny in this case, he is the author of his own misfortune here. Tommy Robinson’s status as a dissident is further complicated by his insistence on connecting a desire to see immigration reduced in the United Kingdom with unequivocal support for Israel. There are plenty of people who oppose the Leftist establishment, work to reduce immigration and stand up for the rights of an oppressed majority, without the accompanying baggage.
It is notable that many approved dissidents who receive a lot of attention and soak up significant amounts of crowd funding (Bridgen, Fox and Robinson) have very chequered histories (covered in various videos). They often dishonestly pretend that punishment for their own libels represent an attack on free speech.
More conspiracy minded readers could imagine that provocateurs like Tommy Robinson actually help to advance the elite’s age-old desire to divide and conquer. In the case of immigration, encouraging people to abuse actual immigrants in hotels is pointless when the real villains of the piece are the politicians and civil servants who allow hundreds of thousands of people into the country in the name of diversity. Provocateurs make sure that the people physically fight each other, whilst leaving the architects of our misfortune largely untouched.
My Twitter feed is already full of furious Union Jack flag wavers angry that I pointed out the reality that Tommy Robinson was not imprisoned for journalism, a self-evidently ludicrous claim. Members of the Tommy tribe are no more rational than the statists who were screaming at me when pointing out that lockdowns were oppressive and pointless back in 2020. It is hard to tell whether this unthinking tribalism is created by accident or design, but either way, I try and deal in facts rather than in tribal loyalties.
So by all means fund Tommy Robinson and even appreciate the important work that he did around the grooming gangs scandal but be aware that he is not being imprisoned for “the crime of journalism”, but rather because he repeatedly ignored a 2021 injunction designed to prevent him libelling Jamal Hijazi.
Let me have your thoughts below and please don’t forget to circulate our material and support our work.
Alex Kriel is by training a physicist and was one of the first people to highlight the flawed nature of the Imperial COVID model6, he is a founder of the Thinking Coalition which comprises a group of citizens who are concerned about Government overreach (www.thinkingcoalition.com)
https://x.com/TRobinsonNewEra/status/1817184820151070917
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2022/07/Hijazi-v-Yaxley-Lennon-judgment-220721.pdf
https://www.judiciary.uk/wp-content/uploads/2024/10/Yaxley-Lennon-Summary-of-reasons-contempt-of-court-sanction.pdf
https://x.com/VickyRichterUSA/status/1852620651820970234
This is an informative article. Personally, believe Robinson is part of divide & rule agenda. Became suspicious when he aligned himself with political zionism. Not to mention is tax defaults.
Good to see u back Alex. Viva Frei, who I thought was ok, called me a communist after I said Tommy was a paid agitator. The Tommy thing helps weed out the fellow agitators and dummies.