Musk wants the release of UK far-right activist Tommy Robinson | Distant News

US tech billionaire says Tommy Robinson, who is serving an 18-month sentence, ‘should be freed’.

Elon Musk has called for the release of British far-right activist Tommy Robinson and criticized UK Prime Minister Sir Kier Starmer for his response to grooming scandals when he served as the country’s chief prosecutor more than a decade ago.

On social media on Thursday, the American tech billionaire said Robinson, who founded the English Defense League and whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, “must be freed”.

“Why is Tommy Robinson in solitary confinement for telling the truth?” Musk wrote on X, his social media platform, on Thursday.

“He should be released and those who covered up this crime should take his place in that cell,” he wrote.

Robinson, the UK’s most convicted soccer player, is serving an 18-month prison sentence after pleading guilty to contempt of court in an old defamation case involving a Syrian refugee.

Musk also sent several messages about grooming scandals that took place over decades in many English towns and cities including Rochdale, Rotherham and Oldham until they were exposed more than a decade ago.

Musk shared the claims of various other accounts about the scandals and criticized Starmer’s response to the scandal.

“In the UK, serious crimes such as rape require the consent of the Crown Prosecution Service for the police to charge the accused. Who was the head of CPS when gangs of rapists were allowed to exploit little girls without facing justice? Keir Starmer, 2008-2013,” he wrote, criticizing the current British prime minister.

Starmer was head of the CPS at the time and began prosecuting the gang in Rochdale in his last year in the role, shortly after the scandal emerged. None of the investigators in the scandals charged Starmer or found that he tried to prevent prosecution.

In 2012, Starmer blamed the justice system’s flawed approach to sexual exploitation and ordered a complete overhaul of CPS’s response to it.

Musk’s tweets to Robinson have drawn support from far-right figures, including Dutch politician Geert Wilders, and right-wing YouTube channels have also called for his release.

The US tech billionaire’s latest intervention in UK politics comes after his recent announcement of support for Germany’s far-right AfD party, in which he said the AfD was the only party that “can save” Germany as the country heads to snap elections next month.

The German government has accused him of meddling in the vote.

Musk has also openly supported other far-right figures in Europe including Nigel Farage of the UK’s Reform Party and far-right Italian Prime Minister Giorgio Meloni.

Musk has also been a prominent sponsor and supporter of Donald Trump’s campaign for President of the United States. Last month, Trump denied allegations that he had “handed the presidency” to Musk.