UPDATE: Thanks to the help of our supporters, the Attorney General has confirmed that criminal proceedings will be brought against Tommy Robinson. We will keep our supporters updated as this progresses.
You can hear more about our campaign to start legal proceedings against Tommy Robinson on the latest episode of our HOPE not hate podcast
In July 2021, after famously losing a libel case and being forced into bankruptcy, a High Court injunction forbade Stephen Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) from spreading his lies. He was categorically told that if repeated his libellous claims about a Syrian refugee schoolboy he could face prison.
This is the story of how Lennon ignored the injunction and released his documentary, Silenced, all while living an impossibly lavish lifestyle in luxury hotels, private villas and secluded mansions around the world.
The Verdict
Lennon never accepted the verdict in the libel case. After being advised by his own lawyers that he was likely to lose, he contrived a divorce and bankruptcy to ensure that Jamal Hijazi and his legal team never received a penny of the damages and costs awarded against him.
Despite categorically losing in court, he always felt he could convince his supporters that he was in the right, if only they could see the libellous film he created. This left the judge with little option but to issue an injunction that prohibited Lennon from repeating six libellous claims against Hijazi. It was unequivocally clear: “If you the defendant disobey this order you may be held in contempt of court and may be imprisoned or fined or have your assets seized,” it read.
For the next two years, Lennon festered, increasingly furious and embarrassed that he had so publicly lost the case. However, this May the pressure became too much and he released the film and he’s since been on the run from justice.
Breaches Begin
Lennon’s original plan at the time of the court case was to release the film via fellow libeller Alex Jones of InfoWars. In a clear snub to the verdict, a trailer for a video about Hijazi appeared on Jones’ website. He had been boasting about the video since March 2021, and even the day before the verdict in the libel trial came through Lennon recorded a short video saying that he was in discussions with a mainstream broadcaster about releasing the film. This initial plan was scuppered by the imposition of the injunction, but he soon started looking for alternative ways to get his side of the story out.
The first indication that he was planning to break the injunction emerged in early 2023. In an interview with the podcaster DMC Daily, broadcast on 24 January 2023, he discussed the film. “Let’s get into the video that you sent me,” said the host, a clear indication that he was breaking the injunction by sending the film to people.
Similarly, on 13 February he appeared on the Tankz Podcast to discuss the libel trial, saying: “I made a film that I’m not allowed to show anyone, I get two years in jail if I show anyone. I’ll send it you,” he said, pointing to the host. He even went on to say, “I’ll send you the video. You can share a little bit of it.”
That same month he appeared on the Gareth Icke podcast and again offered to send the film to the host. However, in this recording he repeated his libels against Hijazi in punishing detail, practically walking the viewer through his film scene by scene. This alone was a flagrant breach of the injunction and enough to have him hauled in front of a judge for contempt.
Meeting MICE Media
Not content with repeating his libellous claims piecemeal on various podcasts, Lennon had long been exploring ways to release the whole film in a way that he hoped might look like an accident.
In October 2022 a little-known online media platform called MICE Media released a “curated collection” of cartoon Tommy Robinson mice NFTs. Later that month Lennon began to discuss MICE Media on his Telegram channel, explaining to his supporters that, “Their idea is a decentralised crypto currency-based media channel, that can’t be cancelled.” The appeal to Lennon was obvious. He interviewed MICE Media’s CEO Bryn Davis on 30 October, who revealed the following day that Lennon had begged for his own show on the new platform.
The relationship blossomed and by January 2023 Lennon proudly claimed that he is “a mouse” and heavily suggested that he had bought a stake in the company. From then on it becomes clear that they were hatching a plan to release Lennon’s libellous film. In mid-February, Davis posted multiple references to the film saying that he was “about to watch the Tommy Robinson documentary that will potentially be released under MICE FILMS.”
Later that month Lennon gave a speech at MICE Media’s NFT conference in Paris and once again expressed his excitement at the possibilities offered by the platform. It seems that it was on this trip that Lennon and Davis really bonded. “We speak daily,” explained Davis in a Discord channel. “I spent 4 days with him one-on-one in Paris. From Breakfast […] to closing out the night eating kebabs … I really, really have gotten to know Tommy the man.” The exact moment that Lennon struck a deal with MICE Media to release his film remains unclear but from this trip onwards plans progressed quickly.
On 1 April a new MICE Media version of Silenced was premiered by Lennon in Copenhagen at a meeting in the Danish Parliament, hosted by the Danish People’s Party and The Free Press Society. “Good afternoon and welcome to the world premiere of Tommy Robinson’s latest documentary, Silenced,” the event host, Aia Fog, told the audience. Lennon clearly knew the screening broke his injunction, saying, “I’ve been given an injunction that says I get two years in prison. If certain information and truths are shown to the public, what could it be that the British establishment are that terrified of the public?”
The film that was broadcast was a new version, differing from the previous InfoWars cut that Lennon had sent around to podcasters a few months previously. This plainly contradicts Lennon’s later claims that he had not seen it and had no idea that changes had been made to the version he had handed over to Alex Jones in the summer of 2021. As is clear from screenshots from the Copenhagen broadcast, the film carries the 2023 date in the bottom right of the film and also opens with the MICE Media logo.
These weren’t the only new edits Lennon had made. For example, the new film included some screencaps of tweets not posted until three months after the injunction was served. Then, towards the end of the film there is mention of Lennon being discharged from bankruptcy and additional legal fees of £25,000. The discharge occurred on 3rd March 2022, while the additional legal fees were issued against Yaxley-Lennon in August 2022 and related to court hearings in April 2022 and June 2022.
During the Q&A following the screening, Lennon was asked by a member of the audience what his plans were to get the film to a wider audience and replied, “My job is to get as many eyes on this film as humanly possible.” Hardly the words of someone who had no involvement in the release of the film as he later claimed.
Their Man In Havana … and the Bahamas
The Copenhagen screening may have been the film’s world premiere, but there was still a lot to do before it could be released on the internet. At some point, Lennon and Bryn Davis agreed to meet in person to finalise arrangements. In keeping with Lennon’s lavish lifestyle, it seems they agreed to meet in the Bahamas. This posed a problem for Lennon as most flights to the islands go via the US, a country that he is banned from visiting.
However, Lennon had been on a family holiday in Spain during the first two weeks of April and as there are no direct flights to the Bahamas from Madrid, he flew via Havana, Cuba, as the normal route via Miami was not open to him. He arrived in Havana on 14 April and after four nights at the Grand Aston hotel, he left on 18 April. While in Cuba, Lennon filmed a new clip for Silenced while sitting outside the 4* hotel in which he begged supporters for money. From Cuba, Lennon made his way to Freeport, the main city on Grand Bahama, the closest island to Florida.
The trip was far from all work with plenty of time spent in the Bones Bar, part of the Pelican Bay Hotel. However, whilst in the Bahamas, Lennon recorded a 12-second clip, which was later posted on the MICE Media Discord server, in which he said: “Are you ready to go to war? We are about to set the internet on fire! Disruption like no one has ever seen is coming. It’s going to be a busy month!”. In subsequent messages, Davis described the meetings as follows: “You know you’re brewing up something straight nasty when you’re sitting by a lagoon in Freeport with journalists… along with members of SAS, intelligence officers of a U.S. general… and a Seal 🇺🇸🇬🇧”
After the gathering in the Bahamas things moved fast. On 21 May, MICE Media announced they would release the film in four days. Just 25 minutes later, at 1:58am, Urban Scoop, the media company Lennon works for, sent out an email to its supporters responding to the tweet. Laughably the email claimed, “it’s not me publishing it,” and that, “I do not support the release of the film. […] I have said openly and publicly that I did not want this documentary to be made public, in line with the injunction laid down by the courts. Even if I do not agree with the court order, I do respect the law.” His explanation was that, “it has been circulating among journalists since its creation.”
As HOPE not hate have shown, these claims are absurd. Lennon was intricately involved in collaborating with MICE Media to release his libellous film. Despite making these claims, Lennon eagerly set about promoting the film’s release on his various social media platforms. Another Urban Scoop email explained that, “When it can be accessed, we will let our supporters know where they can watch and share it.”
Promoting The Film
On Thursday 25 May the film was finally published online by MICE Media and Lennon eagerly promoted it on his Telegram channel. This alone was a breach of the injunction. This was not the only promotion of the film by Lennon. Between early April 2023 and mid-June 2023 HOPE not hate has identified at least 37 posts on his Telegram and Gettr accounts promoting it.
Since the film’s release, Lennon has appeared on numerous podcasts and been interviewed by a number of media outlets. While he has repeatedly claimed to have no knowledge of, or involvement in, the film’s release, he has praised the airing of it and repeated his libellous claims about Hijazi.
In a video released on 26 May 2023, Lennon was interviewed by the far-right founder of the Proud Boys, Gavin McInnes. He once again categorically lied about not knowing about the film’s release stating, “The first I heard about it was within the last couple of weeks, when I started getting knocking on the door from American journalists asking questions about this film. I then became aware it was going to be released.” He makes the same absurd claim on The Absolute Truth with Emerald Robinson podcast on 1 June and again in a podcast with Gareth Icke released on 4 June. Regardless of his claims he proceeded to break the injunction again by repeating all of the main libels from the film in these podcasts.
Hiding In Spain
Since the release of the film and aware of the possibility of his arrest for contempt of court, Lennon has been hiding in a luxury, 6-bedroom, 7-bathroom mansion in south-eastern Spain worth over 1.3 million pounds. He’s flown over a series of friends and fellow far-right activists to keep him company during his self-imposed exile.
Since the release of the film, he has sent out a staggering nine emails asking for money to subsidise his lavish lifestyle. In recent months Lennon has spent time in Tenerife, Cuba, the Bahamas and now south-eastern Spain, staying in luxury hotels, private villas and secluded mansions, all while begging his supporters for money.
Sadly, for Hijazi the release of Lennon’s film has resulted in the expected racist backlash and he has still not received a penny of money owed to him.
HOPE not hate continues our campaign to get justice and recently submitted an extensive dossier to the Attorney General, calling on them to bring Contempt of Court proceedings against Lennon for his blatant breach of the injunction. It’s now out of our hands, but we deeply believe it is in the public interest that action is taken. It’s incomprehensible that Lennon can get away with ignoring the injunction while living a life of luxury while his victim once again experiences racism and the spreading of proven lies against him.
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