Kneecap's legal team for court battle to include Julian Assange lawyer
Rapper O hAnnaidh, who performs under the name Mo Chara, will be represented by a team that includes Gareth Peirce, solicitor for WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during his fight against US extradition, and Rosalind Comyn, who has represented Extinction Rebellion protesters in court.
The 27-year-old was charged by postal requisition over the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, in November last year.
His legal team also includes Darragh Mackin from Phoenix Law, Brenda Campbell KC, Jude Bunting KC and Blinne Ni Ghralaigh KC.
A post shared by KNEECAP (@kneecap32)
Mr Mackin was the solicitor for Sarah Ewart, whose successful legal challenge helped to usher in the decriminalisation of abortion in Northern Ireland, while Ms Campbell was the defence barrister in the collapsed case against Seamus Daly, who was accused of murdering people in the IRA bomb attack of 1998 in Omagh.
Mr Bunting acted for non-profit company Liberty in the Stansted 15's successful conviction appeal after they broke into Stansted Airport to stop a plane deporting people to Africa, which was a case Ms Ni Ghralaigh also worked on.
In an Instagram post the group said: 'The British establishment is conducting a campaign against Kneecap which is to be fought in Westminster Magistrates Court… We are ready for this fight. We are proud to have such a strong legal team with us.'
Mr Mackin told the PA news agency: 'It is difficult to comprehend a case of greater international importance in recent years.
'Kneecap has played an unrivalled role in standing up for those without a voice in Gaza. They speak truth to power when others shy away.
'It is a great privilege to be instructed alongside my colleagues to defend the important principle of freedom of expression, in the pending battle before the London Court.'
In May, the Metropolitan Police said Kneecap were being investigated by counter-terrorism police after videos emerged allegedly showing the band calling for the deaths of MPs and shouting 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah'.
They apologised to the families of murdered MPs but said footage of the incident had been 'exploited and weaponised'.
They also said they have 'never supported' Hamas or Hezbollah, which are banned in the UK.
In 2024, the band released an eponymous film starring Oscar-nominated actor Michael Fassbender which is a fictionalised retelling of how the band came together and follows the Belfast group on their mission to save their mother tongue through music.
Formed in 2017, the group, made up of O hAnnaidh, Naoise O Caireallain and JJ O Dochartaigh, are known for their provocative lyrics and merchandise as well as their championing of the Irish language.
Their best-known tracks include Get Your Brits Out, Better Way To Live, featuring Grian Chatten from Fontaines DC, and 3Cag.
O hAnnaidh is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on June 18.
His lawyers have been approached for comment.
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The Herald Scotland
2 hours ago
- The Herald Scotland
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The National
2 hours ago
- The National
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But writers need to make a living which is why so many of our writers are forced to use any political references in codified, oblique ways in their writing. Like others, I wrote novels that publishers would accept and didn't write the ones I wanted to write, because I needed to get published. The numerous organisations that support our cultural community, Creative Scotland, the Scottish Book Trust, Live Literature, etc are publicly funded bodies and keen not to rock the boat, or to vote themselves out of existence. One leading Scottish literary agent responded to my pitch of a political novel a few years back with an astonishing reply: 'No-one would want to read …' she said, 'brings back all the divisiveness of 2014 …' So, it was the biggest event in our history since 1707 and we writers are not supposed to write about it in case someone is offended? Despite this, for the last few years, I have been drafting and redrafting short and long-form fiction that combines the personal and the political, focusing especially on the diversity of our movement and the variety of issues individuals might have in daily lives that include some level of commitment to the cause. Some of the stories have been published in literary magazines. My story, We Are An Island appeared in Causeway/Cabhsair, the journal of Irish and Scottish writing. It focused on an elderly English couple and their dog moving to live on a remote island to remind us how much we have benefitted from inward migration and how it is possible for incomers to assimilate even in a Gaelic-speaking community if the will and the tolerance is there. The Galway Review published Greater Love Hath No Man in which the loss of Scots lives in British foreign wars is made apparent, when an intelligent young man, a YSI member, is seduced into the army and death at 19 in Afghanistan, like his great-grandfather before him. My story of the lost potential of Scotland's working class through addiction is the subject of Last Refuge published in Literally Stories. A series of four stories has now started to appear in the SNP's Independence magazine. In Hinterlands, published in March/April's issue, a veteran activist tries to convey to his son during a by-election the importance of remembering and recording even the tiniest details of the struggle. Everything must be remembered so that those who were not there cannot rewrite our story. In the May/June issue, TheWummin Inside, an 80-year-old woman takes a stand against moaners, regretting the missed opportunities of her generation, some of whom could have 'run a small country like Nicola'. More of the stories, some narrated by me, are set to appear on indy podcasts and websites and I hope the collection, Speaking For Ourselves/Unspeakable Things when published might prove something of an outlier that brings together a wider readership. Not every writer wants to get involved in a movement or a national group. Writers write for themselves, express individual concerns and everybody is different. But to me at least, under the influence of Joyce and others, creating and deploying characters that live and breathe within our movement can help to heal the divisiveness and discord of our attritional politics and let us look to bluer skies of opportunity and the potential to create better, fairer and more balanced lives for all in life, and on the page. Andrew Murray Scott is a writer and novelist: He writes a monthly culture column in the Scots Independent.
The National
2 hours ago
- The National
UK jets being sent to the Middle East as Keir Starmer refuses to rule out defending Israel
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