Swift Injustice: The Case of Tommy Robinson
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From one perspective, to be sure, Robinson's lightning-fast arrest, trial, and imprisonment should not have come as a surprise. "There has been a campaign to 'get Tommy' -- or what looks remarkably like it -- for some time," a source in the UK, whom I will call Jane Doe, told me late early Saturday morning.
The apparent justification for Robinson's arrest is that he was on a suspended sentence. In May of last year, he was taken into custody while reporting from outside a courthouse in Kent, where another group of Muslim defendants was being tried, also on "grooming" charges. That arrest was also unjustified. At least, however, Robinson was given a suspended sentence. This time, presumably, it was determined that the mere act of reporting yet again from outside another courthouse amounted to a violation of the terms of his suspended sentence.
The official cynicism here is obvious. Jane Doe made a vital point: that often, when one of these "grooming gang" trials is being held, the extended families and friends of the defendants stand outside the courthouse and "heckle and intimidate" the rape victims as well as their families and supporters. "I've had reports of children as young as five throwing stones at victims' families," Doe said.
"This intimidation by extended community groups also involves going around to houses and harassing people." She has even heard of witnesses for the prosecution who have needed police protection to use a rest room inside a courthouse. Needless to say, this heckling and harassment is rarely reported on and never punished.
One potentially positive aspect of this ugly turn of events is that it turned heads that should have been turned long ago. Jane Doe noted that many of her Twitter contacts "were tweeting that they didn't necessarily support Tommy in general but were appalled that someone reporting these [grooming] crimes was arrested." Some of her acquaintances, she said, "are stunned and in despair." On Saturday, thousands of Robinson's supporters rallied in Westminster. But will such public protests make any difference? One British ex-policeman reacted to Robinson's incarceration with a video urging his fellow countrymen not just to march or rally but to join Ann Marie Waters' party For Britain and do for freedom of speech in Britain what UKIP did to get British out of the EU.
Jane Doe had more interesting information to offer. While Robinson is being punished for drawing attention to Muslim rape gangs, the Sikh Awareness Society, which has also reported on these "grooming" trials, is left alone. "They are a godsend," said Doe, "because they pull no punches yet don't seem to get the intimidation that people like Tommy get." Of course -- British police would not dare arrest a bearded man in a turban. Doe also mentioned an imam who was arrested recently, only to be let go by police after "a large group of supporters demanded his release." At least one police officer acknowledged that the imam had been freed because otherwise "they would have been facing riots all around the country." Doe summed up British authorities' current approach to the Islamic situation as follows: "they have lost control... and are simply going for those who they think will make the least fuss. The classroom bully has terrorised the teacher into punishing the kids who are bullied."
One assumes that the officials think that perpetrating this kind of injustice will somehow keep the peace. If I were one of their number, I would not be so certain. The people at that Westminster rally on Saturday were angry. How many other British subjects share their anger? Doe expressed concern that this summer in Britain may turn out to be quite restive. Well, maybe that is all for the good.
For my part, I cannot for the life of me fathom why not a single prominent or powerful individual in all of the United Kingdom has come forward to challenge the mistreatment of Tommy Robinson – and thereby stand up for freedom of speech.
Is the whole British establishment a bunch of cowards? I suppose we will know the answer to that question soon enough, if we do not know it already.
https://www.gatestoneinstitute.org/1237 ... -injustice
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