Right-wing activist Tommy Robinson was arrested by police on Saturday at Heathrow Airport on suspicion of violating counterterrorism laws, following a week in which he sparked a storm on social media.
According to a report in The Guardian, the anti-immigration activist, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was arrested and his phones were seized under Schedule 3 of the 2019 Counter-Terrorism and Border Security Act. Robinson used social media to claim that he had been detained for nearly three hours and that his iPhone and Samsung Galaxy phones had been confiscated, while asking his supporters to donate money to fund his legal defense.
A spokesman for Robinson posted on X: "They probably want to see who he is talking to, and perhaps discover who his sources are, sources who will expose politicians for their role in the rape of a generation of British girls. This is an attack on freedom of expression, this is an attack on investigative journalism, no more and no less."
The 2019 law gives officers at ports the authority to stop, question, search and detain people suspected of traveling for the purpose of planning, preparing or carrying out hostile acts. It was not known what the context of Robinson's detention was, and the Metropolitan Police declined media requests for comment. Robinson is considered an ardent supporter of Israel and visited the country in 2025, meeting with right-wing activists and MKs.
Robinson, 43, recently rose to prominence again amid racial tensions across Britain, in response to footage filmed on police body cameras showing the death of Henry Novak, 18, while he was in police custody in Southampton. Robinson, the former leader of the English Defence League, led protests in the Hampshire city, during which clashes between rioters and police left 13 officers and a police dog injured.
Robinson also shared footage of the moment a Sudanese asylum seeker tried to behead a resident of Belfast in Northern Ireland, seriously wounding him. Robinson linked the incident to the British Right's ongoing struggle against immigration into the country. Robinson published details of planned demonstrations across Britain and Northern Ireland on X. Elon Musk shared the post with his 240 million followers.
Robinson was previously acquitted of a terrorism charge after refusing to give police access to his phone in July 2024, when he was stopped by officers at the Channel Tunnel in Folkestone while driving a friend's silver Bentley to Benidorm, Spain.
Robinson refused to give officers his phone's PIN code during the stop, arguing that the device contained confidential journalistic material. A district judge concluded that he could not be certain the detention had been lawful.
