At the end of last year, a Syrian refugee family made national headlines. 

The whole country was horrified by footage of 15-year-old Jamal being thrown to the floor and doused in water by bullies at his Huddersfield school. 

In another video, Jamal's little sister is also seen to bear the brunt of bullies at the same school. Their stories evoked a tremendous national response. Thanks to your generosity, the family have been able to relocate to a safer environment where Jamal and his sister will be able to live and study in peace.

However, not everyone was sympathetic to their plight. 

In the days and weeks after the story went public 'Tommy Robinson' (real name Stephen Lennon) sought to justify the abuse directed towards Jamal. He defamed the young boy by falsely stating that amongst other things Jamal was involved in the violent gang beating of young English girl who had to be subsequently home-schooled through fear. 

To make matters worse, he even raised money in support of those behind the bullying by galvanising cash from his supporters on social media platforms.

I am Jamal’s litigation friend and am raising money to assist with funding a lawsuit against Steven Lennon (AKA Tommy Robinson) which arises out of false comments he made on various social media platforms about Jamal.

We will be bringing an action in defamation against Lennon, we are also exploring bringing a claim against Facebook and other social media platforms which have been exploited by Lennon to publish his false and damaging comments made in respect of Jamal.

We require funds initially to penetrate the veil surrounding Lennon's finances as well as to seek disclosure around the exact relationship Mr Lennon has with the various social media companies. The same companies are used to publish Lennon’s messages of hate and raise cash from his global supporters.

Please show your support by contributing to the legal costs of this action now and share this page on social media.

Case Background

Stephen Lennon (aka Tommy Robinson) is an English right-wing activist who currently serves as an adviser (on rape gangs and prison issues) to the Leader of the UK Independence Party (UKIP), Gerard Batten; his appointment caused Nigel Farage to resign from UKIP over the issue.  

Lennon was a co-founder, former spokesman and former leader of the controversial English Defence League (EDL). He was a member of the British National Party (BNP) from 2004 to 2005, and for a short time in 2012, he was joint vice-chairman of the British Freedom Party (BFP).

Lennon has numerous criminal convictions including but not limited to Assault, use of false identity documents, mortgage fraud and contempt of court.

On 27 November 2018, the video of Jamal being bullied emerged on the internet depicting an assault by a fellow pupil at Almondbury Community School. The attack is subject to a criminal investigation; however, the incident was only one in a long line of incidents of abuse suffered by Jamal and his sister.

On the 28 November 2018 Mr Lennon produced the first video containing defamatory statements about Jamal, he chose to make and disseminate these remarks on various social media platforms including Youtube, Instagram and Facebook.

Over the following days and weeks, further publications which contained defamatory statements in respect of Jamal were published by Mr Lennon, and again these were posted to various social media platforms.

As a result of Lennon's false remarks and their wide online circulation, Jamal became the focus of countless messages of hate and threats from the extreme right wing. The police informed Jamal that there was an increased risk to the safety of he and his family; as a result, he and his family were forced to relocate. Funds raised by GoFundMe for Jamal have been allocated exclusively to helping Jamal's family relocate.

Legal Case

We will be pursuing an action, in defamation, and any other cause of action advised by our solicitors in respect of the defamatory publications made by Mr Lennon. Mr Lennon had already been notified of an intention to bring legal proceedings against him (https://twitter.com/MohammedAkunjee/status/1068255414977011715). 

We are exploring routes by which the social media platforms that provide a means of dissemination to Lennon can also be attached to this action. This process will involve a full review of the various statute and common law remedies available to help protect an individuals reputation and to recover damage caused by defamatory remarks.

We will also have to undertake a review regarding the enforceability of any judgment which is successfully obtained for Jamal. We expect this to be complex as Mr Lennon has not only gone by several names during his lifetime but also has several criminal convictions. Lennon's relevant criminal antecedence include a fraud-related offence as a co-conspirator with others. His criminality indicates that enforcement of any financial award obtained may be challenging, we hope to penetrate the veil of Mr Lennon's finances,  identify and forensically trace all of Mr Lennon's financial assets so that he does not escape the economic consequences of his defamation of others. 

How much are we raising and why?

Initially, we will be raising £10,000 to cover preliminary investigations and case preparation. However, we will then need to go on to raise further significant funds to resource this case to completion. It is likely we will need to bring onboard specialist forensic accountants as well as specialist barristers to assist in the suit against Lennon (whose finances on initial inspection are mired in complexity), Facebook, Instagram and youtube.

All donations are gratefully received and all funds after payment processing and platform fees will be transferred directly to the legal team to be used on legal work regarding this case.