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A London High Court judge has rejected Tommy Robinson’s appeal to end his solitary confinement at HMP Woodhill, where he has spent 142 days. During the hearing, Robinson resorted to communicating through written signs after prison authorities terminated his voice call, highlighting the contentious nature of his detention.
Robinson, whose birth name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, has been isolated since October 28, following his imprisonment for showing his documentary “Silenced,” which has accumulated 163 million views on X.
Justice Chamberlain dismissed Robinson’s request for judicial review on Friday. In a controversial decision, the judge rejected the characterization of Robinson’s conditions as solitary confinement and supported the prison’s decision to restrict his access to visitors and communication with his children.
After sitting through yesterday’s dramatic trial between Tommy Robinson and the UK's Justice Secretary Shabana Mahmood, I'm disgusted but not surprised that the political prisoner lost.
Equally, I’m disgusted but not surprised that the MSM have lied about what happened in court. pic.twitter.com/o6SL0XwYfh— Dan Wootton (@danwootton) March 21, 2025
“It is not accurate to refer to Mr Yaxley-Lennon’s regime as ‘solitary confinement’ at all. I accept that the absence of association with other prisoners has an effect on his mental health, but it is not arguable that the regime as a whole gives rise to a breach of Article 3 (of the European Convention on Human Rights),” Judge Chamberlain espoused.
“The cancellation of visits and curtailment of calls with associates believed to run social media platforms is a proper response to the need to avoid the use of his incarceration for campaigning purposes,” Chamberlain wrote. He did not specify why Tommy should be denied freedom of speech for “campaigning purposes.”
Robinson spends 22 hours daily in isolation and is barred from receiving visits from individuals with social media presence, apparently to prevent information about his confinement conditions from reaching the public.
During a phone conversation from the prison, Robinson’s call was abruptly terminated, forcing him to communicate via written messages stating “Silenced,” “They Cut My Phone Off,” and “My Calls are monitored. They were listening and cut it off.”
Kathy Gyngell of The Conservative Woman described the dramatic scenes:
At this point Tommy, who was on Zoom link to the court, held up his hand indicating his disagreement. Respect to the judge for noticing. He adjourned the hearing ‘to allow for Robinson to instruct his solicitor on accuracy of statement regarding his segregation regime made by Counsel for Sec State Justice.’
Tommy Robinson discusses pedophilia by Mohammed. pic.twitter.com/fzGov98H9b
— Imtiaz Mahmood (@ImtiazMadmood) March 20, 2025
Then, in total contradiction to that special treatment we’d just regaled with, we all witnessed, via the Zoom link, Tommy, solo and alone at the door of his cell, unable to get any attention for the phone access to his solicitor that the judge specifically had requested. What was the Governor of Woodhill, Nicola Marfleet, doing? On this case that so closely involved her? Finally, a corridor prison guard responded to Tommy’s calls. It was a moment of truth, shining light on the deceit.
The judge then adjourned the court for half an hour.
Despite these developments and Justice Chamberlain’s instruction to ensure Robinson could properly communicate with his legal team, the judge ultimately found no violation of Robinson’s human rights.
Robinson’s legal team, backed by Elon Musk, has filed an appeal against his contempt of court sentence, scheduled for hearing on April 11th.
