Tommy Robinson: Free Speech Issue?

[seer]

Do any Brits here know what this is about? What exactly did he do wrong?

Ugly scenes as furious Tommy Robinson supporters riot outside Parliament and burn EU flags after the EDL founder was jailed for nine months for contempt

https://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/art...ld-Bailey.html

[Cow Poke]

[Mountain Man]

Is he that comedian who posted a joke to social media that the British government decided was inappropriate?

[rogue06]

Quick overview from Wikipedia:

Source: Tommy Robinson (activist)

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon[21] (born 27 November 1982),[22] known as Tommy Robinson, is a British far-right and anti-Islam activist.[23] He has served as a political advisor to the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Gerard Batten, since November 2018. Robinson is a co-founder, former spokesman and former leader of the English Defence League (EDL) organisation.[24] He has on previous occasions used the pseudonyms Andrew McMaster, Paul Harris,[14] Wayne King,[4][25] and Stephen Lennon.[14]

Robinson has been active in far-right politics for many years. He was a member of the neo-fascist and white nationalist British National Party (BNP) from 2004 to 2005.[1] For a short time in 2012, he was joint vice-chairman of the British Freedom Party (BFP). Robinson led the EDL from 2009 until 8 October 2013. He continued as an activist, and in 2015 became involved with the development of Pegida UK, a British chapter of the German-based Pegida organisation (Patriotic Europeans Against the Islamisation of the West).[26] From 2017 to 2018, Robinson wrote for and appeared in online videos for The Rebel Media, a Canadian far-right political website.

Robinson has accumulated several criminal convictions and has served three prison sentences. His criminal record includes convictions for violence, financial and immigration frauds, drug possession, public order offences, and contempt of court.[27][28][29] He has served at least three separate custodial sentences: in 2005 for assault, in 2012 for using false travel documents to enter the United States, and in 2014 for mortgage fraud.[14][17][5] In May 2018, Robinson was sentenced to 13 months' imprisonment for contempt of court after publishing a Facebook Live video of defendants entering a law court, contravening a court order that disallows reporting on such trials while proceedings are ongoing. On 1 August 2018, due to procedural errors, he was released on bail pending a new hearing of the case.[30] On 5 July 2019, Robinson was again found guilty of contempt of court at the retrial and was sentenced at the Old Bailey to nine months in prison on 11 July․[31][32] Before his sentencing, Robinson appeared on InfoWars and appealed for political asylum in the United States.



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[Mountain Man]

Hmmm... perhaps the British government is right to drop the hammer on him. Guy sounds like a classic anarchist.

[seer]

In May 2018, Robinson was sentenced to 13 months' imprisonment for contempt of court after publishing a Facebook Live video of defendants entering a law court, contravening a court order that disallows reporting on such trials while proceedings are ongoing. On 1 August 2018, due to procedural errors, he was released on bail pending a new hearing of the case.[30] On 5 July 2019, Robinson was again found guilty of contempt of court at the retrial and was sentenced at the Old Bailey to nine months in prison on 11 July․[31][32] Before his sentencing, Robinson appeared on InfoWars and appealed for political asylum in the United States.

This is what he is going to jail for now. For recording Muslim men in court, who were involved in a rape sex ring.

[mikewhitney]

There are many problems going on where police and government are protecting the Muslims doing crimes while preventing non-immigrants from any protection of the police and courts.

[seer]

There are many problems going on where police and government are protecting the Muslims doing crimes while preventing non-immigrants from any protection of the police and courts.

I think that was what Robinson was trying to expose - and he got jail for it...

[KingsGambit]

The contempt charge comes from the violation of a gag order during the duration of a trial. The UK has different laws regarding reporting during trials, and this particular law is to prevent the risk of jurors being swayed. He had already been serving a suspended sentence for doing it.

Robinson likes to portray himself as a free speech martyr but he has a lot of baggage relating to violence (at least one bar fight, one fight at a soccer game). I will say, the reports of him being a racist are lazy and inaccurate; his focus is on Muslims, not race, and he left the English Defense League when white nationalists started taking it over.

[firstfloor]

Maybe some of you don’t remember, but your nation and mine fought against fascism in the 1940’s. It’s still around and popular in some quarters. People seem to have forgotten what it does. When you see it, beat it down, hard.