Key facts
- Tommy Robinson was detained at Heathrow Airport on Saturday under counter-terrorism laws.
- His phones were seized by police under Schedule 3 of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019.
- Robinson claimed the detention was an attack on free speech and investigative journalism.
- He was released after being interviewed.
- The detention occurred after Robinson returned from a trip to Russia.
- Robinson had recently posted about riots in Northern Ireland.
British police stopped and detained far-right activist Tommy Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, at Heathrow Airport on Saturday, seizing his phones under counter-terrorism legislation. The detention occurred after Robinson returned from a trip to Russia via Turkey. Robinson claimed he was held for approximately three hours and that his phones were seized, appealing to supporters for donations to fund his legal defense. He alleged the detention was an attack on free speech and investigative journalism.
The Metropolitan police confirmed officers stopped a man in his 40s at Heathrow Airport around 17:00 on Saturday. He was stopped under Schedule 3 of the Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act 2019, interviewed by officers, and his communication devices were seized before he was released.
This legislation allows police to stop individuals suspected of engaging in hostile activity for or on behalf of a state other than the UK. In the week prior to his detention, Robinson had tweeted repeatedly about violence that swept Belfast after a video went viral showing the brutal stabbing of a man, who lost an eye in the attack. A Sudanese man has been charged with attempted murder, though police are not treating the attack as terrorism. The riots that followed targeted homes and businesses owned by ethnic minorities or foreign residents, which Hillary Benn, secretary of state for Northern Ireland, called racist thuggery. The far-right monitoring group Hope Not Hate describes Robinson, 43, as the "best-known far-right extremist in Britain."