The Syrian schoolboy who was filmed being attacked in a playground in Huddersfield is to take legal action against Facebook over claims by Tommy Robinson that he attacked English girls.
Solicitors for the 16-year-old, who can be identified only as Jamal, said Facebook had given “special status” to the English Defence League founder to peddle false and defamatory lies about the schoolboy.
Footage of the refugee student being pushed to the ground and having water poured on his face was watched millions of times and attracted widespread condemnation, including from Theresa May, in December.
A 16-year-old boy, who cannot be identified, was charged with assault and appeared before a youth court last month.
Hours after the video went viral last month, Robinson claimed on Facebook that Jamal had previously attacked three schoolgirls and a boy.
The anti-Islam activist, whose real name in Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, reposted a screenshot of a message on his Facebook page from a mother claiming her daughter had been bullied. However, the mother later posted on Robinson’s page denying that it was Jamal who had allegedly attacked her daughter.
Jamal’s solicitor, Tasnime Akunjee, also wrote to Robinson informing him that legal action was being pursued against him as the posts contained “a number of false and defamatory allegations”.
After receiving the letter, Robinson admitted to his followers the claims were untrue and said he had been duped. “I have been completely had, how embarrassing, man,” he said.
Jamal said he had been unable to go back to Almondbury Community school since the incident and that he feared for his safety because of what Robinson had said. “I felt scared that people would think wrong about me because I hit girls when I didn’t,” he told the Daily Mail.
“I was scared because I feared people would attack me more because they would be believing in what Tommy Robinson said about me.
“I cannot go to my school any more and there are people who hang around outside my house and video me on their phones. They call me ‘little rat’ if I go outside. One of my neighbours threatened me outside my house just yesterday.”
Akunjee, of Farooq Bajwa and Co solicitors in London, said Facebook had given Robinson a “special status” and treated him differently from the average user by making “editorial decisions” about his posts.
It emerged last year that prominent figures such as Robinson are protected from the normal rules of moderation that would usually see a page removed after posting five or pieces of content that violates its rules.
Akunjee said Facebook was therefore responsible for Robinson’s posts and had given him “special treatment [that] seems to be financially driven”.
Jamal’s legal team is seeking to raise £10,000 for the legal action against both Robinson and Facebook. To date, more than 130 people have pledged £2,662 to the cause.
After Jamal was attacked, more than 10,000 people donated about £150,000 to help relocate the boy and his family to a house outside Huddersfield. The family will receive the money when they find a suitable house.
Speaking in December, the prime minister said she was horrified by the attack on Jamal, who had sought sanctuary in Yorkshire from Syria.
Yet Robinson, who was made a political adviser to Ukip days earlier, poured scorn on the outpouring of sympathy and suggested the schoolboy was no victim. He later interviewed the 16-year-old suspect, unlawfully identifying him and using it to repeat claims that Jamal had attacked other pupils.
Facebook had not returned a request for comment at the time of publication.
