British far-right activist Tommy Robinson has been sentenced to prison
- British far-right activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, known as Tommy Robinson, was sentenced to 18 months in prison on Monday.
- He admitted to defying the court, violating an order issued after he was sued for libel, according to Reuters.
Yaxley-Lennon was sued for libel at the High Court in London by Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi, and in 2021, was ordered to pay £100,000 in damages. He was also given a ban on repeating the defamation, which Yaxley-Lennon admitted breaching repeatedly between February 2023 and July this year.
The judge who sentenced the activist, Jeremy Johnson, said: “The offenses were not accidental, negligent or simply reckless. Every violation of the court order was thought out and planned and deliberate and direct and blatant.”
Britain’s attorney general took legal action against Yaxley-Lennon over his comments in online interviews and a documentary made by the activist called ‘Silenced’, which was viewed millions of times and was screened in Trafalgar Square in London in July.
Yaxley-Lennon’s lawyer, Sasha Wass, said of his defamatory comments: “He acted in the way he did and accepts his guilt because he believes strongly in free speech, a free press and the overwhelming desire which he has to expose the truth”.
Source: www.mediafax.ro
