A court has found Tommy Robinson to be innocent of a terror-related offence. It follows a border stop in which Robinson refused to hand his phone over to the police. Unfortunately, it’s far from the first time authorities have used terror legislation as a blanket excuse to do whatever they like.
Robinson detained under Terrorism Act
As reported by the BBC, Tommy Robinson was stopped by the police at the entrance to the Channel Tunnel. It was there that he was asked to give his phone pin over, and it was there that he refused because he claimed to have “journalist material” on his device. As he was detained under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act, police had the right to demand that he unlock his phone, but Robinson refused.
This is what we wrote during the trial:
Now, we here at the Canary don’t consider Robinson to be a journalist because he isn’t one; he’s a political activist who uses the veneer or journalism to push a far-right agenda. At the same time, we are very much opposed to the Terrorism Act and the inevitable overreach which results from it.
Anyone can be arrested at any time for refusing the police access to their electronic devices when ordered to do so under Schedule 7 of the Terrorism Act. No suspicion is required.
No one should support the prosecution of Tommy Robinson under this legislation.
— Gyll King Post Skip Diplomacy (@GyllKing) October 13, 2025
Highlighting how terror legislation is frequently used to abuse civil liberties, Emily Apple wrote the following for the Canary back in 2016:
The police have shown repeatedly that they regard fracking protesters as an extremist threat. Fracking protesters have been included in Prevent training about extremism, and campaigners questioned under anti-terrorism legislation at airports.
The government’s proscription of Palestine Action is the most significant misuse of terror legislation to happen recently:
The Met Police in effect confirms that the govt’s decision to ban Palestine Action as a terrorist group is “drawing resources away” from defending the public from actual terrorism. Who would have thought? pic.twitter.com/K1gvb1MCRJ
— Mark Curtis (@markcurtis30) October 4, 2025
EXCLUSIVE: A Scottish counter-terrorism board found that Palestine Action’s activities fell below the threshold to be considered terrorism before the group were banned by Labour, The National can reveal pic.twitter.com/FJ85pTlqpQ
— The National (@ScotNational) October 14, 2025
If people have broken the law, that needs to be resolved in some fashion. The problem is successive governments and police services have decided that opposing them is an offence in itself – even when said opposition does not cross the threshold of illegality.
This state overreach needs to stop.
Featured image via Tommy Robinson
By Willem Moore
This post was originally published on Canary.