Ethno-Nationalist Activist Sentenced to 2 Years in Prison for Inciting ‘Racial Hatred’ Through Stickers
Samuel Melia was found guilty of operating an online library of downloadable stickers with slogans such as ‘we will be a minority in our homeland by 2066’ and ’mass immigration is white genocide.’
An ethno-nationalist activist found guilty of running an online library of downloadable stickers allegedly intended to “stir up racial hatred” has been sentenced to two years in jail.
In January, a jury in Leeds convicted Samuel Melia, 34, the Yorkshire organizer for the ethno-nationalist group Patriotic Alternative, for distributing the controversial stickers and encouraging racially aggravated criminal damage.
On Friday, Leeds Crown Court Judge Tom Bayliss, KC sentenced Melia to two years in prison.
Hundred Handers
The stickers displayed inflammatory slogans like “Labour loves Muslim rape gangs,” “We will be a minority in our homeland by 2066,” “Mass immigration is white genocide,” and: “Second-generation? Third? Fourth? You have to go back,” explicitly targeting non-white individuals.
Melia identified himself as “pro-British or a white advocate” and was also the leader of the Hundred Handers, a group that organized the placement of anti-immigration stickers in various locations between 2019 and 2021, the court revealed.
He was apprehended outside a post office in Leeds in April 2021 under suspicion of publishing or distributing material that could incite racial hatred.
On Friday, Judge Bayliss stated to Melia: “I am certain that your mindset is that of a racist and a white supremacist.”
“You hold Nazi sympathies and you are an anti-Semite.”
He warned Melia that the dissemination of such material is harmful to society and particularly highlighted the dangers of anti-Semitism.
Stickers
During the trial, prosecutor Tom Storey, KC, mentioned the Hundred Handers Telegram channel with over 3,500 subscribers that posted photos of stickers in public places like lamp posts, vending machines, public toilets, train stations, and the door of an MP’s constituency office.
Storey also revealed that Melia had intended to display the stickers in public before a Black Lives Matter protest in Leeds.
Melia explained in court that the stickers were designed to be placed on street furniture like lamp posts, benches, bus stops, and other waiting areas.
In January, the Crown Prosecution Service mentioned that a search of Melia’s home revealed a book by Oswald Moseley, a poster of Adolf Hitler, and a Nazi emblem, indicating his ideological beliefs.
Patriotic Alternative
According to its website, Patriotic Alternative advocates against “the demographic decline of native Britons in the United Kingdom.”
Some of its policies include a government commission to address discriminatory policies, a halt to immigration except under exceptional circumstances, and the exclusion of immigrant-descended individuals from decision-making regarding the UK’s ethnic composition.
PA Media contributed to this report.
