British activist Tommy Robinson is accused of the crime of “inciting racial hatred” for holding an English flag with the words “F**k ISIS” printed on it.
Robinson is a known nationalist and the former leader of protest movement the English Defense League. He recently appeared in an image where he posed with the flag and wore an anti-Islamic State T-shirt while visiting France during the ongoing Euro 2016 soccer tournament in the country.
Robinson was banned from traveling to the tournament for his participation in a 2011 brawl. He had his passport taken away by police when he returned to England and the local court charged him for violations of his traveling ban.
Robinson’s attorney, Alison Gurden, claims Bedfordshire Police accuse him of “inciting racial hatred” as the main part of the charges related to the violation.
“The mainstay of the application by Bedfordshire Police is that Tommy Robinson, while in France was pictured wearing an Anti-ISIS T-Shirt, and holding up an English Saint George Cross flag with ‘Fuck ISIS’ written across it, and that this was aimed at inciting racial hatred against Muslims,” Gurden said on her website.
Robinson himself said he stayed away from the cities where England played and denies violating his traveling ban.
“It’s completely ridiculous,” Robinson told The International Business Times. “In court on Friday they said I had incited racial hatred because of the England flag and shirt I wore. I had done everything I could to avoid any trouble while in France.”
The Racial and Religious Hatred Act 2006 makes it illegal to incite “hatred against a person on the grounds of their religion.” Convictions can lead to a maximum of seven years in prison along with an unlimited fine.
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