Tommy Robinson (Photo: Shayan Barjesteh van Waalwijk van Doorn/Wiki Commons)
Elham Asaad Buaras
A Syrian refugee filmed being attacked in a school playground is suing the founder of the English Defence League Tommy Robinson for libel.
A video showing Jamal Hijazi 16, being pushed to the ground by a bully in Huddersfield went viral last year.
Papers lodged at the High Court on May 15 accused the far-right anti-Muslim activist, who is standing as an independent MEP candidate in the north-west, of falsely accusing 16-year-old Jamal Hijazi of attacking white girls.
Lawyer Tasmine Akunjee said the teen was suing Robinson (real name Stephen Yaxley-Lennon) for £100,000.
“The action is for defamation, particularly to do with statements Robinson made in November last year through Facebook on video,” Akunjee said, adding, “That was to do with his suggestion Jamal was involved with a gang that attacked some girls.”
Jamal’s legal representatives allege that Robinson’s social media posts caused the teenager to become “the focus of countless messages of hate and threats from the extreme right wing”, and sparked a police safety warning.
Robinson saw the ‘donate’ button removed from his Facebook page following the incident and has since been banned from the social network.
His posts and videos included claims that Jamal was part of a gang that attacked white girls, and that “lots of Muslim gangs are beating up white English kids” in Britain.
Robinson posted a screenshot of a message from a mother claiming her daughter had been bullied at the same school, but the woman later wrote on Facebook that Jamal was not the attacker. Robinson has 28 days to file a defence.
