LONDON: A UK judge on Monday jailed notorious far-right agitator Tommy Robinson for 18 months after he admitted committing contempt of court over a long-running libel case involving a Syrian refugee.
The sentence is the latest jail term for one of Britain’s most prominent anti-Muslim activists, who is blamed for helping fuel anti-immigration riots earlier this year.
It came after Robinson — whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon — pleaded guilty earlier on Monday to 10 breaches of a 2021 High Court order.
It bars the 41-year-old far-right figurehead from repeating false allegations he had made about the Syrian refugee, who successfully sued him for libel.
Handing down the 18-month jail sentence at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London, judge Jeremy Johnson said Robinson’s actions were a “planned, deliberate, direct, flagrant breach of the court’s orders.”
“Nobody is above the law. Nobody can pick and choose which injunctions they obey and those they do not,” the judge added.
“It is in the interests of the whole community that injunctions are obeyed.”
Robinson, wearing a grey suit and waistcoat with no tie, was held in custody, as some of his supporters looked on in court.
He had turned himself in to police on Friday, after an arrest warrant was issued following his failure to appear for a July court hearing on the case.
Lawyers for the Solicitor General, a senior government post advising on legal matters and which pursues such cases, said during the hearing that Robinson had been “thumbing his nose at the court.”
It accused him of “undermining” the rule of law, including by last year helping to publish a film called “Silenced,” which contains the libellous allegations.
The film remains pinned to the top of Robinson’s profile on the social media site X.
The former football hooligan, who helped form the now-defunct far-right English Defense League in 2009, had landed himself back in court because of his “principles,” his lawyers argued.
Robinson, who brands himself as a free speech advocate, has previously served time for contempt of court, which is not a crime but can be sanctioned with a jail term.
He also has several criminal convictions, including for assault.
On Saturday, thousands of his supporters and other protesters marched through central London demanding his release, as well as tougher immigration laws.
Robinson, who has reportedly spent recent months outside the UK, has amassed a large online following built around his vehemently anti-Muslim, anti-immigrant messaging.
Demonstrators at anti-immigrant riots which erupted across England and Northern Ireland in late July and early August could be heard chanting his name.
He was widely condemned for a stream of social media posts during the week of violence, which was sparked by false rumors that the suspect behind the fatal stabbings of three young girls was a Muslim asylum seeker.
He has been a familiar sight at far-right rallies over the years, but has seen his profile grow over the last year after his X account was reinstated following billionaire Elon Musk’s purchase of the platform.
UK far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson jailed for 18 months
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UK far-right figurehead Tommy Robinson jailed for 18 months
- The sentence is the latest jail term for one of Britain’s most prominent anti-Muslim activists
- It bars the far-right figurehead from repeating false allegations he had made about a Syrian refugee, who successfully sued him for libel
Former Philippine President Duterte confirms existence of ‘death squad’
- Rodrigo Duterte: ‘I had a death squad of seven, but they were not police, they were gangsters’
- Human rights groups documented about 1,400 suspicious killings in Davao during the 22 years Duterte was mayor
When Duterte was president, two men including a former policeman had testified before the Senate they were part of an alleged hit squad in Davao they said killed at Duterte’s behest, but legislators at the time found no proof and Duterte’s aides dismissed the claims as fabrication.
Appearing on Monday before a Senate inquiry into his campaign against illegal drugs, Duterte identified “commanders” of the death squad which he said included former national police chief-turned senator Ronaldo dela Rosa, who was also present at the hearing.
“That is the job of the police,” said Duterte, who admitted to senators thousands of criminals died when he was Davao mayor.
He said he had never ordered the death squad to kill defenseless suspects, but did tell the group “to encourage criminals to fight back, and when they fought back, kill them so my problems in the city will be solved.”
But the 79 year-old Duterte later said gangsters — not police — made up his death squad, adding to the ambiguity surrounding the squad’s operations.
“I can make the confession now if you want,” Duterte said. “I had a death squad of seven, but they were not police, they were gangsters.”
Human rights groups documented about 1,400 suspicious killings in Davao during the 22 years Duterte was mayor and critics say the war on drugs he unleashed as president bore the same hallmarks.
More than 6,200 people were killed in police operations in the drugs campaign, which is also the subject of an International Criminal Court investigation.
Police reject allegations the killings were executions, saying the drug suspects violently resisted arrest and that authorities acted in self-defense.
Senator dela Rosa, who oversaw Duterte’s bloody crackdown when he was national police chief, previously said the death squads were “fiction.” In the hearing on Monday, he downplayed Duterte’s remarks, saying they should be taken as a joke.
NATO chief says he can confirm North Korean troops are in Russia’s Kursk
BRUSSELS: NATO Secretary General Mark Rutte confirmed on Monday that North Korean troops have been sent to Russia and that North Korean military units have been deployed to the Kursk region.
“The deepening military cooperation between Russia and North Korea is a threat to both Indo-Pacific and Euro-Atlantic security,” Rutte told reporters after NATO officials and diplomats received a briefing from a South Korean delegation.
Ukrainian forces staged a major incursion into Kursk in August and remain in the region.
Rutte said the North Korean deployment represented “a significant escalation” of Pyongyang’s involvement in “Russia’s illegal war” in Ukraine, a breach of UN Security Council resolutions and a “dangerous expansion” of the war.
Rutte said the deployment of North Korean troops was a sign of “growing desperation” on the part of Russian President Vladimir Putin.
“Over 600,000 Russian soldiers have been killed or wounded in Putin’s war and he is unable to sustain his assault on Ukraine without foreign support,” Rutte said.
The Kremlin had dismissed reports about a North Korean troop deployment as “fake news.” But Putin on Thursday did not deny that North Korean troops were currently in Russia and said that it was Moscow’s business how to implement a partnership treaty with Pyongyang.
A North Korean representative to the United Nations in New York called the reports “groundless rumors.”
Ukraine’s top presidential official said on Monday sanctions would not be a sufficient response to North Korean involvement in the war and called for more Western arms supplies to Kyiv.
“North Korean troops are already in the Kursk region...This is an escalation. Sanctions alone are not enough. We need weapons and a clear plan to prevent North Korea’s expanded involvement in the war in Europe,” Andriy Yermak, president’s chief of staff, said on X.
He added that Ukraine’s Western allies should respond firmly since “the enemy understands strength.”
Modi, Spanish PM launch India’s first private military aircraft plant in Gujarat
- The first C-295 aircraft made in India will be rolled out by Vadodara plant in 2026
- Modi launched ‘Make in India’ initiative in 2014 to promote country as a global manufacturing hub
NEW DELHI: Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and his Spanish counterpart Pedro Sanchez inaugurated India’s first private military aircraft plant on Monday, boosting the country’s ambitions of becoming a global manufacturing hub.
In Gujarat state’s Vadodara city, the two premiers launched the Tata Aircraft Complex, the manufacturing hub that will produce the Airbus C-295 transport military aircraft in collaboration with Airbus Spain and to be deployed by the Indian Air Force.
“In India, the defense manufacturing ecosystem is touching a new height. Had we not taken a firm step 10 years ago we would not have reached this feat today. Back then no one could have imagined that India could be involved in defense manufacturing on such a scale,” Modi said at the launching ceremony.
The Indian premier vowed to turn India into a global manufacturing hub when he came to power in 2014 with his “Make in India” initiative, including in infrastructure, pharmaceuticals and the defense sector.
“That time our priority and identity were of importer. But we decided to tread a new path, we fixed a new target for us and today we are witnessing the result,” he said.
Under a $2.5 billion deal signed in 2021, India and Spain agreed to procure 56 C-295 transport aircraft to replace the aging Avro-748 planes of the Indian Air Force.
Airbus will deliver the first 16 of the aircraft from its final assembly line in Seville, Spain — six of which have so far been delivered. The remaining 40 will be manufactured and assembled by Tata Advanced Systems in India, as part of an industrial partnership between the two companies.
“The factory will not only strengthen India and Spain’s relationship but also consolidate Make in India and Make for the World Mission,” Modi said.
The plant in Vadodara is expected to roll out the first C-295 aircraft made in India in 2026. The plane can transport up to 71 troops or 50 paratroopers, will be able to access remote locations and be used for medical evacuations and aid in disaster response and maritime patrol duties.
“This project brings together the best of two worlds,” Sanchez said.
“This project strengthens our industrial ties while underlying our country's deep commitment as a reliable and strategic partner. This plant will be a symbol of industrial excellence, an engine of growth and a testament to the close and growing friendship.”
Sanchez was on a three-day visit to India, the first such trip by a Spanish leader to the South Asian nation in 18 years.
As part of his visit, Sanchez will also travel to India’s financial capital of Mumbai on Tuesday, where he is expected to meet with trade and industry leaders, as well as visit film studios in an effort to boost entertainment industry collaboration between the two countries.
As the world’s largest arms importer, accounting for almost 10 percent of total global arms import between 2019 and 2023, the plant in Vadodara marks a new chapter in India’s defense industry development.
“To maintain strategic autonomy, it is imperative to substantially reduce dependence on foreign suppliers. Hence, India is focusing on maximizing its domestic production of advanced defense systems,” Delhi-based defense analyst Ranjit Kumar told Arab News.
India has been encouraging the private sector to make investment in weapons production to increase its self-dependency in the defense sector. New Delhi is also in talks with German and Spanish submarine makers to produce next-generation diesel submarines in India, he added.
“India is thus leveraging its huge defense market to successfully negotiate with leading international defense firms to produce their weapon systems in India for supplying not only Indian armed forces but also use the facility in India for the international market.”
Around 40 soldiers killed in attack on Chad military base, presidency says
DAKAR: Around 40 soldiers were killed in an attack on a military base in Chad’s Lake region on Sunday, the central African country’s presidency said on Monday.
President Mahamat Idriss Deby launched an operation to track down the assailants, the statement said.
The presidency did not name the group responsible for the attack. The region is often attacked by the Boko Haram insurgency, which erupted in northeast Nigeria in 2009 and spread to the west of Chad.
2 people fatally shot in a rural area of northern Austria
VIENNA: Two people were fatally shot on Monday in a rural area of northern Austria, police said, and the suspected shooter was on the run.
The body of a man was found early Monday in the Muehlviertel area of Upper Austria province, the Austria Press Agency reported. Police said later in the morning that there was a second victim.
They didn't identify either victim but Austrian media reported, without naming sources, that one was a local mayor.
