The British activist and former English Defence League (EDL) leader was earlier found guilty of contempt of court after he livestreamed information about defendants in a case involving the sexual exploitation of underage English girls in 2017.

Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, also known as Tommy Robinson, has been sentenced to 9 months in jail over contempt of court charges. The court branded his filming of the defendants on the grooming charges, banned by the court reporting rules, as “subjectively reckless”. The activist’s Telegram account slammed the court’s ruling and called on his supporters to protest it.

“Sentenced to prison for journalism. Time for protests to start, this is an absolute joke! Protest outside whatever prison I’m in on Saturday please”, the Telegram statement reads.

Robinson streamed the defendants, charged with the sexual exploitation of minors in 2017, on Facebook during their trial, while court rules prohibited the release of the case details at that time. His live-stream on Facebook revealed the ethnic and religious backgrounds of the grooming gang’s members. He also cited demographic data about the number of Muslims and Pakistanis living in the UK, comparing it with their prevalence among British grooming gangs.

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