A British judge has sentenced a young Muslim man to 20 months in prison for standing up to far-right rioters who terrorised Muslims after publishing false news on social media.

The ruling sparked debate about the implications of the controversial verdict for self-defence at a time when Britain is suffering from the worst racially motivated Islamophobic uprising.

Judge Robert Linford of Plymouth Crown Court in the southwestern English city of Plymouth sentenced 24-year-old Amer Walid to 20 months in prison for throwing cans at far-right rioters who had thrown alcohol at him.

Walid, who had no previous convictions, was attacked by right-wing extremists on Monday, August 5, during a clash at an anti-racism rally.

From July 30 to August 5, the UK experienced the worst far-right, fascist and anti-immigrant riots in decades. Mobs attacked mosques, attempted to set fire to hotels housing migrants and pelted police with bricks.

The unrest was sparked by social media users who falsely claimed that the suspect in the murder of three little girls in a knife attack in the north-west English coastal town of Southport was a Muslim asylum seeker.

The court heard that Walid had visited a mosque before joining the protest at the Civic Centre on Royal Parade. He had told police he had heard about the demonstration on social media and had gone there to protect his faith.

Prosecutor Lewis Aldous told the court that the beer can landed at Walid’s feet and that this made him angry, as he does not drink alcohol due to his Islamic beliefs, and that he then threw the can back.

Walid initially claimed to have thrown only one object, but after watching the BodyWorn video footage recorded by police, he admitted to throwing several objects at far-right rioters.

The young Muslim’s lawyer, Zoe Kuyken, said that given the fireworks and the “extremely religiously offensive language” used that night, “there was not surprisingly a certain degree of fear both among Mr Walid and those around him”.

The judge said he accepted that Walid “was not looking for trouble” and that the rioters had “thrown dice” and made “deeply offensive racist chants”.

Nevertheless, he sentenced Walid to 20 months in prison and told him: “You should have risen above your simply disgusting racism.”

“You could have done that, but you didn’t. Instead, you fired four missiles of one type or another at the opposing group,” he added.

The far-right gatherings reportedly began as anti-immigration marches organized on social media platforms such as X and in WhatsApp and Telegram groups. They quickly became chaotic and violent.

Protesters set fire to two Holiday Inn hotels in the northern town of Rotherham and in Tamworth in the Midlands. The hotels were believed to be housing asylum seekers awaiting decisions on their applications.

The Rotherham hotel was “full of frightened residents and staff” at the time, according to a statement from South Yorkshire Police Deputy Chief Constable Lindsey Butterfield.