British far-right activist Tommy Robinson to be released on bail after winning appeal

Jailed British far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose case has attracted the sympathy of right-wing supporters of US President Donald Trump, was released on bail on Wednesday after winning an appeal against a contempt of court ruling.

Robinson, the founder of the English Defence League (EDL) which in the past has staged violent demonstrations against Islam, was arrested in May for making video recordings outside a courthouse which revealed the identities of defendants while jurors were considering their verdicts in an ongoing trial. Later that day, Robinson, 35, was jailed for 13 months.

A representative of US President Donald Trump reportedly raised Robinson’s case with Britain’s ambassador to the United States following lobbying by the right-wing Breitbart website.

Appeal Court judges on Wednesday ruled that the court process against Robinson in Leeds was flawed as the proceedings were completed too quickly, and that no details of the case against him were put to Robinson. He was sentenced within five hours of recording a Facebook Live about the trial.

“Once the appellant had removed the video from Facebook, there was no longer sufficient urgency to justify immediate proceedings,” judge Ian Burnett wrote in his ruling. “No particulars of the contempt were formulated nor put to the appellant.”