The British far-right activist known as Tommy Robinson begged U.S. President Donald Trump for political asylum as he faces jail for jeopardizing the trial of a child sex gang by commenting on it during a Facebook live stream, breaking contempt law.
Robinson, 36, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was found guilty on Friday of three charges of contempt of court over his social media broadcasting from a case at Leeds Crown Court in May 2018. Reporting restrictions applied to trials linked to the case.
Speaking on the conspiracy theory network InfoWars, Robinson, who has multiple convictions for fraud and assault, claimed the judge "effectively sentenced me to death in prison" because people want to kill him, particularly Muslim inmates.
"I want to make a genuine appeal to President Trump, to the Republican Party: Please consider me and my family for political asylum," said Robinson, who has a small following among the far-right in the U.S.
"The British state's appeasement to Islam, the unrestricted waves of migrants into this country means that they are deliberately persecuting and illegally imprisoning anyone who speaks out against their globalist agenda."
He added: "I ask again, if you're watching this, if you're in the administration of Donald Trump, Donald Trump Jr., I'm pleading with you. Please raise concerns over this case… I need evacuation from this country because dark forces are at work."
The White House did not respond immediately to a request for comment.
Under English law, criminal trials are subject to reporting restrictions, which limits what journalists and members of the public can say about them until verdicts are reached, to protect the fairness of proceedings and to ensure that justice is delivered.
This Thursday, Robinson, who founded the English Defence League, a far-right street protest group, will be sentenced up to a maximum of two years in jail following his conviction last week over the Facebook live stream.
During that stream, Robinson breached the court-imposed reporting restrictions by identifying defendants involved, and confronting them aggressively on camera, BBC News reported.
Dame Victoria Sharp reportedly said Robinson's Facebook video, viewed 250,000 times, "gave rise to a substantial risk that the course of justice in that case would be seriously impeded" and that confronting defendants interfered directly with the course of justice.
Tommy Robinson Contempt of Court - here's one of the key clips from his Facebook live where he is said to have aggressively confronted defendants - judge for yourself: pic.twitter.com/gvnUwaTcFp
— Dominic Casciani (@BBCDomC) July 5, 2019
"If you want to live in this country, you must abide by its laws," Nazir Afzal, England's former chief prosecutor, wrote on Twitter. "Stephen Yaxley-Lennon aka Tommy Robinson didn't. He jeopardized trials of sex offenders & justice being delivered to brave victims. Racist Egotist wanted it to be about him. When it should ONLY EVER be about VICTIMS."
Sharp is yet to publish in writing the full reasoning behind her decision to find Robinson guilty of three counts of contempt of court, but she will do so shortly. Robinson has indicated that he will appeal against the judgement.
Robinson had already been found guilty in a separate case, and faced a 13 month jail sentence, but was released on appeal after two months. He faced a retrial after the U.K. Attorney General Geoffrey Cox brought new proceedings against him, citing public interest in doing so.
