Tommy Robinson compares spell in prison to Guantanamo Bay

Tommy Robinson has compared his spell in jail to Guantanamo Bay, saying he was put in solitary confinement and had lost “nearly 40lb” after living on a diet of one tin of tuna and a piece of fruit a day.

In an appearance on a US talkshow aired on Fox News, the former English Defence League (EDL) leader said he had been the victim of a “kangaroo court”.

He said during his spell in prison other inmates had thrown excrement and spat through his ground floor cell window, adding: “I was supposed to be in Her Majesty’s Prison Service, not Guantanamo Bay.”

Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Christopher Yaxley-Lennon, was released from HMP Onley in Rugby on Wednesday after three leading judges in London quashed a contempt finding made at Leeds Crown Court in May.

The 35-year-old, who was introduced as an “activist”, said after being moved prisons he was put in solitary confinement for two months which resulted in the shortening of his legal visits and the disruption of his legal access.

He said: “This case, the world has watched it, it’s shocked them, for me this has been nothing new.”

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Robinson said he was diagnosed with post-traumatic stress disorder after a five-month period of solitary confinement in 2012.

But he said he had not mentioned it because he did not want to compare his prison experience with veterans who had been in war zones.

When asked why he had been locked up, Robinson said he had been the victim of “hatchet jobs” from the “mainstream media”.

Robinson could still face jail over an allegation that he committed contempt of court by filming people in a criminal trial and broadcasting footage on social media after judges rejected his lawyers’ argument that he has already served the equivalent of a four-month sentence.

A Prison Service spokesman said: “Mr Yaxley-Lennon was treated with the same fairness we aim to show all prisoners – he had access to visits, television and showers – and it is totally false to say he was held in ‘solitary confinement’.

“He was initially placed into the Care & Separation Unit for less than 48 hours while an assessment of the risk to his safety was undertaken by prison staff. He then joined the main prison population.”