Robinson — who has had backing from the tech billionaire — is cleared after two-day trial over police request to access his phone.
LONDON — Far-right British activist Tommy Robinson has been cleared of a terror offense after he was tried for refusing to give police access to his phone during a border stop at the Channel Tunnel on July 28, 2024.
District Judge Sam Goozee found Robinson, whose real name is Stephen-Yaxley Lennon, not guilty of failing to comply with counter-terrorism powers. Robinson is a key figure on the far right of British politics, and has earned high-profile international backing, including from X owner Elon Musk.
Goozee said: “I cannot put out of my mind that it was actually what you stood for, and your political beliefs, that acted for the principal reason for this stop.”
The judge added that the police officer’s decision to stop Robinson had been based on a “protected characteristic,” adding: “I cannot convict you.”
Speaking outside Westminster Magistrates Court, a jubilant Robinson — whose anti-immigration rallies in the U.K. have attracted tens of thousands of supporters — said the judge “found that the police discriminated against me based on my political beliefs.”
And he heaped praise on Musk, who he has claimed footed his legal bills.
“First of all, thank you, Elon Musk, thank you,” he said. “If it wasn’t for Elon Musk … why did it take an American businessman to fight for our justice here, and our fight against terrorism charges for journalists?”
Robinson has previously claimed that the X boss paid his court fees, which he on Tuesday said amounted to “nearly £100,000” for this trial. Musk’s team has not confirmed this claim, but the X and Tesla owner addressed a mass British demonstration organized by Robinson in September.
The comments on Musk have already prompted fresh scrutiny of the Tesla owner’s interventions in British politics. Musk is a frequent critic of the country’s Labour government, and even predicted “civil war” in the country over its migration policy.
Labour MP Emily Darlington, who sits on the House of Commons Science, Innovation and Technology select committee, said: “Mr Lennon’s comments shine a light again on those from outside the U.K. that are seeking to influence our democracy. The government must take this seriously.”
“Whatever today’s result in court, the news that Elon Musk is yet again interfering in the British system to work with the far right will send a shiver down the spines of tens of millions of decent British people,” said Max Wilkinson, home affairs spokesperson for the opposition Liberal Democrat party.
Questions for police
Westminster Magistrates’ Court heard that officers demanded Robinson share the pin to his phone under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act during a stop in July last year.
Robinson is said to have told officers that there was “journalistic material” on his device and refused. The Terrorism Act gives officers the power to stop someone passing through a U.K. port to assess “whether they may be involved or concerned in the commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism.”
Speaking outside the court about the request by police to give the PIN to his phone, Robinson claimed it showed the state was “trying to get my access to my work that I do and my investigations that I do as a journalist.”
The verdict also raises questions about the police’s use of terror powers to stop and question citizens. A section of the judge’s verdict states: “I accept it may be impossible to drawn (sic) a line between your political beliefs, philosophical beliefs and terrorism as there can be a clear overlap.”
Jonathan Hall, the U.K.’s independent reviewer of terrorism legislation, told POLITICO: “The case was not about whether Tommy Robinson was a terrorist. It was about whether the police misused their powers.
“Ultimately, the judge could not be sure that stopping Robinson under the Terrorism Act was lawful and so he dismissed the case. The judge found that the police might have just stopped Robinson because of his beliefs, rather than for the purpose of determining whether he was a terrorist,” Hall said.