Member of Irish rap band Kneecap faces court on ‘terrorism' charge

Al Jazeera

13 hours ago

A member of the Irish rap group Kneecap is due to appear in court, charged with a 'terror' offence for allegedly supporting Hezbollah.
Liam O'Hanna, 27, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, will appear at the Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London on Wednesday after he was charged in May for displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London concert in November.
Kneecap has taken a stance against Israel's assault on Gaza, which has killed more than 60,000 people and reduced much of the enclave to rubble since it began in October 2023. The Lebanese armed group Hezbollah began cross-border attacks into Israel shortly after Israel launched the assault, saying at the time that it was acting in support of Palestinians in Gaza.
Since Hezbollah was banned in the United Kingdom in 2019, it has been an offence to show support for the Iran-aligned group.
Protest restrictions
The hearing in central London is expected to hear legal arguments on whether the charge falls outside a six-month time limit, a court official told the AFP news agency.
Police have imposed conditions limiting where demonstrations in support of O'Hanna can take place, saying they were needed to 'prevent serious disruption'.
In response, the rap group described this move as a 'calculated political decision' which is a 'distraction from war crimes that the British state supports'. Still, they asked supporters to go out of their way to be compliant with the rules, 'irrespective of how pitiful'.
Hundreds of fans had cheered outside the central London court in June when O'Hanna, or Liam Og O hAnnaidh in Gaelic, made his first appearance, with dozens waving flags and playing drums.
Prosecutor Michael Bisgrove told the previous hearing the case was 'not about Mr O'Hanna's support for the people of Palestine or his criticism of Israel'.
'He is well within his rights to voice his opinions and his solidarity,' Bisgrove said.
Instead, the prosecutor said, the case was about O'Hanna wearing and displaying 'the flag of Hezbollah, a proscribed terrorist organisation, while allegedly saying 'Up Hamas, up Hezbollah''.
The punk-rap group has said the video that led to the charge was taken out of context.
Formed in 2017, the group is no stranger to controversy, clashing with the UK's previous Conservative government and voicing opposition to British rule in Northern Ireland.
Banned organisations
The hearing comes amid a growing controversy surrounding support for banned organisations in the UK.
More than 700 people have been arrested, mostly at demonstrations, since the Palestine Action group was outlawed in early July.
The ban came into force days after Palestine Action took responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England that caused an estimated 7 million pounds ($9.5 million) of damage to two aircraft.
The group said its activists were responding to the UK's indirect military support for Israel during the war in Gaza.