The confrontation in Dubai between the British extremist Tommy Robinson and the professional British boxer Ty Mitchell has raised questions about what Robinson is doing in the United Arab Emirates, despite his well-documented record of hostility toward Islam and Muslims, as well as a long history of criminal convictions.
A video recording shows Robinson conducting a filmed interview in which he repeats his claims about Muslims, before Mitchell approaches him and questions why he is present in a Muslim country despite his hostility toward Muslims. The exchange then escalates, culminating in Mitchell pushing Robinson.
Robinson, who enjoys support from prominent figures around the world such as Elon Musk, repeatedly promotes false claims alleging that Muslim men are responsible for 90% of rape cases in Britain. Whenever a ruling is issued against Muslim individuals, he hastens to publicise it using phrases such as “more Muslims” or “another Mohammed” convicted of a crime.
At the same time, Robinson ignores comparable crimes committed by white individuals, including the Epstein files that dominate the political scene in the United States, as well as violent cases such as that involving police officer Wayne Couzens, who raped and murdered a woman after abducting her.
Emirati Warm Reception
What provoked particular astonishment was the warm reception Robinson received in the UAE, despite his past comments targeting Islam and the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, even though UAE laws are supposed to criminalise insults to religious symbols and the Emirati government frequently speaks of tolerance and rejection of hatred.
Robinson said, “From the first minute I landed in the UAE, everyone made me feel extremely welcome,” until his encounter with Mitchell, as he put it.
Robinson also benefited from a campaign of supportive posts on the X platform by Emirati accounts loyal to the UAE government, including Maryam Al Mazrouei, Hassan Sajwani, and Amjad Taha. These accounts defended him, denied that he is anti Muslim, and claimed that he only opposes “extremists” and “the Muslim Brotherhood”. Some Emirati accounts even called for Mitchell’s arrest, alleging that he assaulted Robinson.
Robinson, for his part, reshared a video of Emiratis saying they condemn the Bondi Beach attack in Australia, while blaming the Muslim Brotherhood for “extremist ideology”. He also reshared a post promoting a distinction between Islam and “political Islam”, accompanied by an image of UAE President Mohammed bin Zayed performing prayer.
Robinson further reshared an older recording of the Emirati Foreign Minister Abdullah bin Zayed, in which he warns of the danger posed by Muslim migrants to the West.
Calls for His Arrest
Coinciding with Robinson’s visit to the UAE, which he said was by “invitation” to attend men’s boxing competitions, activists launched a campaign calling for his arrest in the UAE due to his offensive comments about Islam. Although he appears to have deleted some of these remarks, screenshots of previous posts circulated showing him insulting the Prophet Muhammad and accusing Islam of extremism for 1,400 years, that is since the beginning of Islam.
In one earlier post, Robinson wrote, “If the Prophet Muhammad were alive today, he would be in prison and registered as a sex offender.” In another, he described the Prophet as “a dog”.
Robinson continues to insult Muslims in various ways. In one post, he shared an image of two women on a bus, one white and the other dressed in black and fully veiled, appearing to be Muslim, and wrote, “This one belongs to Europe and that one belongs to the desert.”
In a filmed interview, Robinson said he had received warnings against visiting the UAE but insisted on going, claiming he would meet “Emirati friends who work tirelessly to fight Islamists”. He added, “There is no terrorism in the UAE because they know how to deal with Islamists,” according to his statement.
Robinson has previously declared that he is hostile to Islam as a religion, not merely to Islamists as he now claims. In 2016, he said, “I am not far right. I just oppose Islam. I think it is backward and fascist.” He also said, “The current refugee crisis has nothing to do with refugees. It is an Islamic invasion of Europe.”
In one of his television interviews, he described Islam as a “bad belief” and rejected the term Islamophobia, stating, “Phobia means irrational fear, but fear of Islam is very rational.”
In the same interview, Robinson held a copy of the Quran and repeated a quote attributed to former British Prime Minister William Gladstone: “There will be no peace on this earth as long as we have this book. It is a violent and cursed book,” claiming that the Quran is “the cause of all the problems we face”.
During a far right demonstration in London in September last year, organised at Robinson’s call under the pretext of opposing migration, the focus was on attacking Islam. Speakers described it as “the number one enemy of Europe”. Robinson has since begun preparations for a similar demonstration planned for May.
During the COVID lockdown period in Britain, Robinson promoted false claims that Muslims were spreading the pandemic, including through performing prayers in mosques, using old recordings from before the pandemic to support his allegations.
Robinson also contributed to fuelling hatred and demonstrations against Muslims after a stabbing incident involving young girls in Liverpool in August 2024, when he claimed the perpetrator was a Muslim migrant. Police later confirmed that the suspect was not Muslim and was born in Britain.
While in the UAE, Robinson reshared a post claiming that countries such as Germany, France, and Australia cancelled New Year celebrations because “Muslims use them for rioting and killing”.
The Southern Transitional Council in Yemen
During his visit to the UAE, Robinson became active in promoting Emirati policies concerning “extremism”, “Islamists”, and “the Muslim Brotherhood”. He went so far as to write about the need to support the Southern Transitional Council in southern Yemen, which the UAE backs.
Robinson criticised Western policies that he described as “strange and contradictory”, saying that Western powers are lax in “combating terrorism at its source”. He added, “Peoples are seeking to free themselves from the terrorism of al Qaeda, the Houthis, and the Muslim Brotherhood, and they aspire to restore their independent state, and they have the right to do so.” He claimed that “extremists” would reach the West if cooperation with the Southern Transitional Council did not take place.
Who Is Tommy Robinson?
Tommy Robinson, 42, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley Lennon, is the founder of the English Defence League, established in 2009 and later banned for inciting hatred, particularly through deliberately organising gatherings regarded as provocative in areas with Muslim majorities in Luton, north of London. Members of the group chanted slogans insulting God and the Prophet Muhammad, peace be upon him, performed Nazi salutes, and drew together football hooligans alongside supporters of Nazism.
Robinson’s record is marked by numerous convictions and prison sentences. In 2011, he was arrested for leading a group involved in riots and was sentenced to a period of community rehabilitation. In 2013, he was arrested while attempting to use a forged passport under another person’s name to travel to the United States and was sentenced to ten months in prison. In 2014, he was convicted of fraud to obtain a loan and sentenced to eighteen months in prison.
In 2017, Robinson was convicted of contempt of court and obstruction of justice after interfering in a sexual assault trial while proceedings were ongoing, attempting to film witnesses outside the courthouse. He was again sentenced to thirteen months in prison.
Robinson was released from prison on 27 May last year after serving a sentence for contempt of court due to repeatedly making false allegations against the Syrian refugee Jamal Hijazi, despite Hijazi having previously obtained a court ruling against Robinson for defamation.
The case dates back to 2018, when Hijazi, then a school pupil, claimed he had been violently assaulted by white students at his school. Robinson subsequently alleged that Hijazi had previously assaulted a girl.
On 29 July last year, about two months after his release from prison, Robinson appeared in a video assaulting a man at a train station in London, punching him violently and causing the victim’s head to hit the ground and lose consciousness. Robinson fled the country immediately after the incident, before being arrested upon his return around a week later.
In 2018, Robinson’s accounts were removed from Twitter, now X, Facebook, and Instagram, and later from Snapchat. YouTube also restricted access to his videos due to his hate-inciting rhetoric. Amazon removed one of his books because of its incitement against Muslims. X later reinstated his account after the platform was purchased by billionaire Elon Musk.
Robinson had previously visited Israel at the invitation of the far-right government in October last year to promote the Israeli narrative. During one of his visits, he attempted to storm Al Aqsa Mosque claiming to be Muslim, but mosque guards discovered his deception when he failed to recite Surat al Fatiha.
In 2018, the British extremist Darren Osborne was convicted of terrorism in the case of driving a van into a group of Muslims outside Finsbury Park Mosque in north London in June 2017. Investigations indicated that Osborne had been influenced by Robinson’s publications concerning allegations about Muslim men raping British girls.
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