Far-right figure Tommy Robinson released early from UK prison

Al Jazeera

27-05-2025

British far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson has been freed from prison after winning his plea for early release.
The anti-Islam campaigner, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, walked out of HMP Woodhill in Buckinghamshire on Tuesday after a high court cut his 18-month sentence by four months.
The 42-year-old was imprisoned in October 2024 for contempt of court after admitting he had violated an injunction by repeating false claims about a Syrian schoolboy.
The injunction had been imposed after Robinson lost a high-profile libel case brought by Jamal Hijazi, a Syrian refugee assaulted at his school in Huddersfield in 2018.
A video of the attack went viral, after which Robinson posted a series of defamatory statements online. He was later ordered to pay £100,000 ($124,000) in damages and legal costs.
Following his release, he addressed followers for 20 minutes via his X account, sporting a scraggly beard, long hair and a rosary.
He thanked X owner Elon Musk and slammed the British government in a video titled 'Tommy freed from prison' posted on his social media.
Robinson had originally been scheduled for release in late July, but applied to the High Court to purge his contempt order.
The court heard he had committed 10 breaches of the injunction. These included promoting a film titled Silenced, which featured the debunked claims, and screening the same film at a central London rally last year.
In a decision last week, Justice Johnson acknowledged Robinson's lack of remorse at the time of sentencing but noted a 'change in attitude' since. 'He has given an assurance that he will comply with the injunction in the future [and] that he has no intention of breaching it again,' the judge said.
The civil proceedings were brought by the solicitor general, who argued Robinson had deliberately defied the injunction by authorising and distributing the film, as well as reiterating the allegations during multiple interviews in 2023.
Despite the sentence reduction, Justice Johnson warned that any future violations could result in a prison term of up to two years.
Robinson remains a polarising figure in the UK, known for his anti-immigrant and anti-Muslim rhetoric, and repeated legal confrontations tied to his political activism.
He has been blamed for helping prompt the country's worst riots in years in 2024, which he denies.
He has also found backing from American billionaire Musk, who earlier this year campaigned to free the far-right activist from prison.