If you are seeking political asylum the question isn't whether you want to sneak into a country but whether you are being politically persecuted at home.
Yet Tommy has made a good living while often conflating the two.
Until suddenly it's *him* seeking asylum.
None of the rest of this is relevant to my original point but I'll bite anyway:
I think it's fairly clear that he hasn't done anything that justifies the jail time and solitary he has received.
It's only fairly clear if your confirmation bias tells you it's fairly clear.
For me it's debatable - on the one hand, I would tend to agree that the severity of the initial sentence - for
this offence - seemed unduly harsh.
On the other hand, it was within the sentencing guidelines and sometimes examples are made. Moreover, a criminal record, including a previous conviction for the same offence, never goes down well with a judge; didn't learn your lesson last time? Longer sentence this time. Even more than that, he was already serving a 3 month suspended sentence for it, handed out with a warning not to do it again. We still don't know what the sentence will ultimately be - should find out before the end of the week. It could be more lenient or it could be more harsh. However, it's extremely unlikely to be "sentenced to death, in the UK, for journalism" which Tommy claims.
Also on the other hand, he perhaps could have been treated more severely for some of his previous offences, which are numerous and varied, stretching back to before he was a public figure.
Still more on the other hand, why did "they" allow him out for a retrial at all?
And then there's his recent, caught on camera, attack on an England fan. That sort of behaviour often results in gaol time, especially for someone with his record. Now, it happened abroad so he hasn't even been charged but if "they" really were out to get him, don't you think more could have been made of it? Other than some Twitter outrage and his weak excuse, it barely registered. Where was the "nuisance prosecution" for that?
Or maybe "they" don't see persecuting him just for being a violent thug as helpful to their mission to stop him campaigning against asylum seekers and muslims?
I haven't looked into the latest ruling but it relates to the reporting ban that saw him locked up the last time and it looks like that really only happened to Tommy (Stephen) because of who he is and "they" don't like him.
It quite clearly wasn't only that. Sure, who he is made him more of a target but he knew he was on very thin legal ice and what might happen.
-EDIT-
Just been
sentenced to 6 months, plus the activation of the 3 months suspended, minus 138 days time served. So should be a total of around 5 months but apparently I got lost somewhere with my arithmetic:
However, Robinson will only have to spend another 9.5 weeks in prison, before being released. And he could be released before that for good behaviour. One aggravating feature was Robinson's previous offending and suspended sentence for contempt. He has 11 convictions, including for violence.
Some of his supporters took the opportunity to pelt the police with milksh... oh, no, actual bottles and cans:
The crowd marched towards the Old Bailey chanting "we want Tommy out" before some began pelting police with drinks bottles and cans.
Officers donned their helmets as violent clashes erupted, reports the Press Association.
I'd expect him to appeal the sentence so probably more to come from this.
