LONDON, Oct 13 (Reuters) – British anti-Islam activist Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, often known as Tommy Robinson, went on trial on Monday accused of refusing to offer police his cellphone PIN when stopped beneath counter-terrorism legal guidelines, and stated billionaire Elon Musk was funding his defence.
Yaxley-Lennon, higher recognized by his pseudonym Tommy Robinson, has grow to be a flag-bearer for some British nationalists and one in all Britain’s most high-profile anti-migration campaigners, just lately organising a big rally in London attended by about 150,000 individuals.
He stated in a video posted on social media earlier than his trial at London’s Westminster Magistrates’ Court docket that Musk, who typically reposts his messages on X and appeared on the rally by videolink, had “picked up the legal bill for this absolute state persecution”.
Yaxley-Lennon, 42, was detained by police beneath counter-terrorism powers in July 2024 as he drove a silver Bentley via border safety on the Channel Tunnel practice terminal in southeast England, prosecutor Jo Morris stated.
The officer concerned stated he had grow to be suspicious due to the high-value automobile, Yaxley-Lennon’s manner as he refused to keep up eye contact, and since he was on his personal, and had stated he was driving to Benidorm in southern Spain.
He and colleagues seized Yaxley-Lennon’s cellphone and requested him to offer the password quantity.
However he refused, saying he was a journalist and it contained privileged materials.
Yaxley-Lennon says he’s focused by the state for exposing wrongdoing however is denounced by critics as a far-right rabble-rouser with a string of prison convictions. He denies wilfully failing to adjust to an obligation imposed by the Terrorism Act. The 2-day trial is because of end on Tuesday.
