The High Court has today ruled that Jamal Hijazi, a Syrian teenager who was filmed being attacked at school has succeeded in his libel action against Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, better known as Tommy Robinson.
After the video of the assault on Hijazi went viral, Yaxley-Lennon claimed in two Facebook videos that Jamal was in fact the aggressor and made a series of allegations that he had been involved in and responsible for serious acts of violence and aggressive behaviour.
At trial Yaxley-Lennon sought to defend the allegations as true, but Mr Justice Nicklin today ruled that he “fell woefully short” of doing so, and that the allegations were false and without foundation.
Given the seriousness of the allegations and the prominence with which they published, and the fact that Yaxley-Lennon persisted with them until trial, the Judge ruled that the sum of £100,000 in damages was required to vindicate and compensate the Claimant.
The Judge also ordered an injunction to prevent Mr Yaxley-Lennon repeating the same or similar allegations and that Mr Lennon pay all the costs of the action.
Catrin Evans QC and Ian Helme were instructed by Burlington Legal LLP to represent Jamal Hijazi in this case.