YEP says: We stand up for justice but must abide by the law

This newspaper does not make laws, is not above the law and will not break the law.

That is why we could not report immediately on the arrest and imprisonment of Tommy Robinson (real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon), the founder of the English Defence League, who broke the law last week by doing a Facebook live broadcast from outside Leeds Crown Court. Despite the fact his hour-long rant was viewed a quarter of a million times, and despite the fact the YEP knew all about it, we could not tell you about it because a Judge said so. Had we ignored the Judge’s ruling not only would we have been breaking the law but in doing so it could have put at risk a complex, serious and very expensive trial. We cannot report immediately on that long-running case either - there are still reporting restrictions in place.

Today we’ve tried to give you a full explanation as to why we would have been in contempt of court. You deserve that explanation and you may have wondered why others reported it and we didn’t. We believe not only must Justice be done; it must also be seen to be done and that is why this newspaper has been in court, covering that trial and will continue to do so, even though we may not be able to bring you details of it for some months. Many criticised the YEP for not reporting what happened to Tommy Robinson, but we make no apologies for abiding by the law of this land.

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