Most recents (10)

@willchamberlain

Tommy Robinson had a hearing today in London, and the judge decided to refer his case to the Attorney General rather than handle it himself - a victory for the good guys.

@CassandraRules, @ezralevant, @AndrewLawton, @JamesDelingpole, and others have done great work.

#FreeTommy

Delingpole's @BreitbartLondon article does a good job laying out the details of what happened.

The key point: The judge *could* have adjudicated Tommy's contempt of court charge, and tossed him back in jail.

He didn't.

Why not?

breitbart.com/europe/2018/10…

One part of it is certainly the excellent witness statement put together by Tommy and his team. It contests a number of key facts, and details the underlying injustice of the entire process. @AndrewLawton posted it in full.

#FreeTommy

andrewlawton.ca/planned-contem…

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Stephanie Finnegan

@StephanieFinneg

BREAKING: Huddersfield grooming gang jailed for total of 221 years. A THREAD.

The town joins at least a dozen towns and cities across England where hundreds – if not thousands – of girls and young people have been sexually exploited by #groominggangs over the last few decades. #CSE #CSA

20 men were convicted during three trials at #LeedsCrownCourt throughout 2018.

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Will Chamberlain 🇺🇸

@willchamberlain

As promised.

Tommy Robinsonwas jailed for reporting on a criminal trial.

That is almost inconceivable in the United States.

We'll talk about the differences in UK and US law, what avenues Tommy's lawyers might pursue, and why UK law should be changed.

A thread.

#FreeTommy

https://twitter.com/willchamberlain/status/1024684657147867136

First, the statute at issue. Section 4.2 of the 1981 Contempt of Court Act allows judges to place "reporting restrictions" on particular trials.

This allows those courts to ban even *true and accurate* reporting about the trial.

The judge in the Leeds Crown Court had put in place just such a restriction on the underlying grooming trial that Tommy reported on.

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Will Chamberlain 🇺🇸

@willchamberlain

I'm as thrilled as anyone that Tommy is out of prison.

That said, he is still in serious legal jeopardy. The contempt finding at Leeds was quashed for procedural reasons, not substantive ones.

Let's talk about what he faces going forward.

A thread.

#FreeTommy

First, the rationale for his release. The appeals court criticized:

1) the use of the draconian summary procedure,
2) the failure to specify the specific type of contempt and specific behavior at issue, and
3) the failure to fully consider mitigation evidence.

As a result, the case was not dismissed for time served.

The appeals court ordered a rehearing, because it believed that the contempt at issue was "serious."

Tommy will face a different judge, who may well throw him back in jail.

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Will Chamberlain 🇺🇸

@willchamberlain

Tommy’s barrister has been going for nearly an hour now, so I’ll thread out some observations

#FreeTommy #FreeTommyRobinson

A big issue for Tommy is going to be whether his appeal(s) will be thrown out for being time-barred (filed too late)

As @ezralevant noted, Tommy’s team is seeking to get both the contempt findings quashed - including the one from 2017

The appeals were “out of time” - too late.

Tommy’s barrister is arguing that the shenanigans the government pulled with Tommy made it very difficult to put a case together, and, as far as I can tell, that the judges should use their discretion to hear the appeal anyway

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Stephanie Finnegan

@StephanieFinneg

To those who support #FreeTommy / #TommyRobinson, from someone with the actual qualifications to know what they’re talking about. A THREAD.

I’m a reporter who witnessed Tommy both live streaming in front of jurors outside #LeedsCrownCourt and him being sentenced inside the court.

For justified legal reasons, the press have been *temporarily* banned from reporting on a trial that is being heard in the court, but *will* report on it later this year. At the moment, we cannot even say which trial this is.

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Will Chamberlain

@willchamberlain

This thread from @lizziedearden does a much better job than I did at explaining contempt law and reporting restrictions in the UK. (hat tip, again, to the tireless @nickmon1112)

Let's talk reporting restrictions.

#FreeTommy #FreeTommyRobinson

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by @nickmon1112 view original on Twitter

Yesterday I found reporting restrictions nearly incomprehensible. They seem like an obvious affront to freedom of the press.

From the British perspective - our system is equally incomprehensible, because allowing the media to sensationalize cases makes trials unfair.

And, really, the British have a point.

Think about the Harvey Weinstein case. He's been effectively convicted in the eyes of the entire public before his trial has even started. Can you imagine any jurors really coming in as a blank slate?

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Will Chamberlain

@willchamberlain

The judge in Tommy Robinson's case, Denise Marson, pulled a neat trick today.

She threw him in jail for 13 months, and banned anyone in the UK from talking about it.

A thread on how she did it. (h/t @nickmon1112)

#FreeTommy #FreeTommyRobinson

A year ago, Tommy was convicted of Contempt of Court for filming 4 defendants who were alleged to have gang-raped a young woman. His sentence was suspended.

dailymail.co.uk/wires/pa/artic…

Tommy argued that he didn't intend to derail the trial.

Under UK law, that doesn't matter - there is *strict liability* for *criminal* contempt charges.

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