Tommy Robinson, a British activist and guerrilla journalist, has been arrested outside a British courtroom in Leeds for livestreaming information about a Muslim gang on trial for raping and grooming hundreds of victims, some as young as eleven.
Robinson was taken immediately to prison, while many British news sources covering the case went dark and authorities refused to comment on the arrest.
The ongoing trial regards the rape of children by 26 Islamic male suspects and two women. Charges included rape, trafficking, sexual activity with a child, child neglect, child abduction, supplying drugs and making of indecent images of children.
Hundreds of children were allegedly raped, while police and government officials have been accused of covering up the widespread crimes from the public by imposing draconian sanctions for reporting on these trials.
Robinson was arrested and jailed Friday after he filmed members of an alleged child-grooming gang entering a court for trial – but the details of his purported sentence remain murky after the judge ordered the press not to report on the case.
Robinson, the former head of the English Defense League and a longtime activist against Islam and Islamic migration, was arrested after he was filming men accused of being part of a gang that groomed children. Britain has been rocked by a series of child sex scandals perpetuated by gangs of predominantly Muslim men.
Video shows Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Lennon, being surrounded by as many as seven police officers as he livestreamed the incident on his phone. The police informed him he was being arrested for “breach of the peace.”
But shortly after his arrest, a source with knowledge of the case told Fox News he had been jailed for 13 months on a contempt-of-court charge.
A court listing indicated the case was “closed” by Friday afternoon.
One source said he was jailed in Hull Prison. The Hull newspaper website's coverage of the case was one of those blacked out by British authorities. The prison declined to confirm Robinson was there.
According to one account, Robinson was already on a suspended sentence for contempt of court over a gang rape case in 2017.
The judge Friday slapped a reporting ban on the case. The order bans reporters from reporting on a case if there is reason to believe the reporting could prejudice a trial. The order prevents reporting until the conclusion of the trial Robinson was covering.
The gag order led to news outlets in the U.K. removing their reporting from their websites to comply with the order. Sources with knowledge of Robinson’s case are speaking only on condition of anonymity because of fear they, too, will be arrested for contempt. One told Fox News that Robinson’s lawyer warned that, considering the presence of Muslim gang members in prison, a 13-month sentence was tantamount to a death sentence.
“Tommy’s lawyer said he will likely die in jail given his profile and previous credible threats, and the judge basically said he doesn’t care,” the source said. “He sentenced him to 13 months in prison.”
Geert Wilders protested the arrest on Twitter: “Arrested for “breaching the peace” while reporting on a Islamic grooming gang trial? Is this Saudi-Arabia?”
Roseanne Barr also tweeted: “Pedos and their agents are now arresting those who oppose them, in ENGLAND! #FreeTommyRobinson @Nigel_Farage @POTUS #Pedogate”
Robinson, 35, was seen being led towards the back of a police van and searched in footage posted on his Facebook page.
He says: "I'm being arrested for breach of the peace."
He asked one supporter as he is led away: "Can you get me a solicitor? I'm on a suspended sentence, you see."
One officer in the footage says before reading Robinson his rights: "You are being arrested on suspicion of causing a breach of the peace."
Robinson founded the English Defense League in Luton in 2009 before resigning in 2013.