Tommy Robinson detained at Heathrow under counter-terrorism laws | Tommy Robinson
Tommy Robinson was detained by police under anti-terrorism laws at Heathrow airport on Saturday, after a week in which he became increasingly prominent on social media.
It was understood that the far-right activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was stopped and his phones were seized within the scope of Article 3 of the Anti-Terrorism Border Security Act 2019.
Robinson took to social media to claim he was detained for almost three hours, had his iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones taken away, and asked his supporters to donate money to fund his legal defence.
A spokesperson for Robinson shared on
“This is an attack on free speech, an attack on investigative journalism, nothing more, nothing less.”
The 2019 law gives police officers at ports the power to stop, question, search and detain people suspected of traveling to plan, prepare and carry out hostile acts.
It was not known what Robinson’s stop was in connection with and the Metropolitan police declined to comment when approached.
Robinson, 43, recently came forward amid racial tensions across the UK in response to police body-worn footage showing the death of 18-year-old Henry Nowak while in police custody in Southampton.
The former English Defense League leader led protests in the Hampshire city; Meanwhile, 13 police officers and a police dog were injured in clashes between rioters and police.
It also enhanced footage of the moment a man believed to be a Sudanese asylum seeker used a knife on another man he had pinned to the ground in Belfast during a suspected attempted murder on Monday.
Robinson published details of planned shows in England and Northern Ireland on X. Elon Musk shared the post with his 240 million followers.
Robinson was previously cleared of terrorism charges for refusing to allow police access to his phone when he was stopped by officers in the Channel tunnel at Folkestone in July 2024 while driving a friend’s silver Bentley to Benidorm in Spain.
Robinson refused to give officers the passcode to his phone during the stop, claiming the device contained classified journalistic material. A district judge concluded that he could not be sure that the police stop was legal.
