By David Mercer, news reporter
Tommy Robinson has been being released from jail after nine weeks following his sentence for contempt of court.
Photographs posted on social media showed the English Defence League (EDL) founder smiling, with longer hair and a beard, outside Belmarsh prison in London.
Robinson, whose real name is Stephen Yaxley-Lennon, was handed a nine-month sentence at the Old Bailey in July, but was told he would only spend 10 weeks behind bars.
In a video posted online following his release, Robinson said: "First stop – hairdressers."
The far-right activist denied he had been attacked in prison and said he was kept in solitary confinement.
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"I have walked into Belmarsh prison and walked out without seeing another prisoner," Robinson said.
"They would have (killed me)."
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Robinson was jailed after he filmed suspects on trial over the sexual exploitation of young girls and live-streamed the footage on Facebook – breaching a reporting ban.
Judges ruled the 36-year-old had breached the reporting restriction by live-streaming the video to 250,000 viewers outside Leeds Crown Court and by "aggressively confronting and filming" some of the defendants.
In her sentencing remarks, Dame Victoria Sharp told Robinson that "nothing less than a custodial penalty would properly reflect the gravity of the conduct we have identified".
She also said he had "lied about a number of matters" and that he had wrongly "sought to portray himself as the victim of unfairness and oppression".
Outside court, hundreds of Robinson's supporters had gathered and many reacted angrily to the contempt ruling.
