Criminal past of woman at heart of row
THE woman whose anti-Islam videos were re-tweeted by Donald Trump has a conviction for a religious hate crime.
Jayda Fransen, 31, was found guilty of religiously aggravated harassment after she hurled abuse at a Muslim woman wearing a hijab as she and her supporters carried out a ‘Christian patrol’.
The deputy leader of the far-Right group Britain First is frequently pictured leading such patrols, carrying a giant wooden cross through the streets while her supporters wave Union Jack flags. At a rally in Warsaw earlier this year, Fransen allegedly described Islam as ‘a cancer moving through Europe’.
Britain First describes itself as a ‘patriotic political party’ but has been widely condemned for spreading hate and is openly anti-Islam. Formed in 2011 by a former member of the British National Party, it campaigns for a halt to immigration and a ban on Islam in the UK. Its manifesto calls for cash payments to foreigners to leave Britain and a complete immigration ban, except for people who marry British citizens.
The group’s website says it ‘opposes Islamic extremism and mass immigration because they are a danger to the British people’.
Its members have been banned from entering mosques in Britain after it carried out a series of so-called ‘mosque invasions’.
Britain First has an estimated 1,000 active supporters in the UK and half a million followers on Facebook, but has no elected representatives. Its leader Paul Golding, a former BNP councillor, stood as a candidate against Sadiq Khan in the 2016 London mayoral elections but received only 1.2 per cent of the vote.
At the count he turned his back on Mr Khan, a Muslim, but later denied it was a racist gesture, saying he considered the Labour candidate to be ‘a vile man’.
Fransen stood as a candidate in the 2014 by-election in Rochester and Strood in Kent but lost her deposit after she received just 56 votes.
The group was recently deregistered by the Electoral Commission over administrative failures, meaning it cannot place candidates on ballot papers under the name Britain First.
Fransen, a former member of the English Defence League, and Golding were both arrested in May after they allegedly distributed leaflets and online videos during the trial of four Afghan asylum seekers accused of raping a teenager. The four men were later found guilty.
Fransen is charged with four counts of causing religiously aggravated harassment and Golding faces three counts of the same charge. They are due to stand trial in January. The maximum penalty for religiously aggravated harassment is two years’ imprisonment.
Golding said he believed President Trump’s retweets were intended as a gesture of support for Fransen personally.
He added: ‘The leader of the free world has signified his disgust at an elected leader being arrested and possibly facing two years in prison over an Islamic blasphemy law.
‘We’re looking forward to all the new followers and support we’ll get from Trump’s publicity.’
‘We’re a patriotic political party’