Tommy Robinson Acquitted of ‘Terrorism’ Charge over Refusing to Give Phone Password to Interrogating Police Officer
by Oliver JJ Lane
Veteran street organiser, activist, and documentary maker Tommy Robinson has been cleared of a charge under British terrorism law over refusing to give police the access code to his mobile phone.
A British judge has acquitted Tommy Robinson, who was being prosecuted under his legal name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, of failing “to provide the PIN access code to your mobile” to a police officer, because the prosecution was unable to prove the detention of Robinson was legally undertaken in the first place.
Robinson had been stopped at the UK border last year while trying to drive to Spain. Detained under terrorism laws, officers demanded his mobile phone, and Robinson refused, stating that he worked as a journalist and had confidential information on the device and had to protect his contacts. In the end, Robinson’s journalism defence was not tried in court, but rather the whole pretext of the stop was found to be questionable, leading the judge to conclude Robinson could not be convicted of an offence.
Because the demand for the phone pin was made under terrorism law, if the prosecution had been successful, Robinson would have become a convicted terrorist and faced a lengthy prison sentence.
District Judge Sam Goozee said in his ruling that the purpose of the Terrorism Act 2000 is to investigate suspicions of the “commission, preparation or instigation of acts of terrorism”, and that he could not discount the possibility that the stop of Mr Robinson at the UK border was actually motivated by political discrimination against his beliefs.
The Judge wrote, “I find it concerning that the officers have no real recollection of questions asked of you… The officer also appeared confused about his powers under Schedule 7” and that said there was “no evidence” produced by the prosecution that any questions asked by the detaining police officers actually had anything to do with terrorism at all.
While police on the stand said the reasons for detaining Tommy Robinson had included that the car wasn’t his, that he hadn’t booked a ticket in advance, and that he gave evasive answers to initial questioning, and that these made them feel suspicious, the Judge stated that in fact: “I cannot put out of my mind that it was actually what [Tommy Robinson] stood for and your beliefs that acted as a principle reason for the stop… Those beliefs amounting to a protected characteristic”.