Kneecap member charged with terrorism offence

Australia Broadcast Center

23-05-2025

Andy Park: Well, art and politics are clashing again, this time in the music industry, with British police charging Liam O'Hanna, who goes by the stage name of Mo Chara in the Northern Irish hip-hop group Kneecap, with a terrorism offence. The charge relates to the alleged display of a Hezbollah flag on stage in London. The outspoken group has never shied away from their views on the Gaza conflict and the band says this charge is a, quote, carnival of distraction. Kimberley Price filed this report.
Kimberley Price: They're a rap group from Belfast whose fusion of Irish and English lyrics has captured global attention. Kneecap's songs about growing up in the aftermath of the Troubles have gained critical and popular acclaim for showcasing their native language. But their brash lyrics and cutting critiques of the British state have courted controversy.
Kimberley Price: Now the group has found themselves at the centre of legal trouble. Liam O'Hanna, who goes by the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged with a terrorism offence by British police. The Metropolitan Police allege the 27-year-old displayed a flag in support of Middle East terror group Hezbollah at a gig in London earlier this year. Tom Gray, the chair of the Ivers Academy, the largest professional association of music writers in Europe, backed the band.
Tom Gray: In terms of what they've been talking about and what they're angry about, that's for them, you know, human expression, self-expression, artistic expression as well. It's really, really fundamental to us as human beings.
Kimberley Price: This isn't the first time Kneecap's outspoken commentary on the Israel-Gaza conflict has made headlines. While performing at the Coachella Festival in the US this year, the group displayed messages calling for a free Palestine and accusing Israel of genocide.
Kneecap: The Irish not so long ago were persecuted at the hands of the Brits, but we were never bombed from the fucking skies with nowhere to go.
Kimberley Price: The band was heavily criticised and dropped by their US booking agency, leading to a cancellation of multiple shows. The band's manager, Daniel Lambert, supported the move on Irish broadcaster RTE.
Daniel Lambert: You know, if somebody's hurt by the truth, that's something for them to be hurt by, but it's really important to speak truth.
Kimberley Price: Bernard Zuel is a freelance music critic and believes the band members' lives in Belfast has shaped their writing.
Bernard Zuel: They come from seeing what's happening to them in a broader historical context, which does play into some of their interests outside Northern Ireland, for example, Gaza. For them, a discussion of things like oppression by a larger invading force, the claim for territory, for unification, all of those things resonate.
Kimberley Price: He believes the charges against Liam O'Hanna could have two effects.
Bernard Zuel: It will amplify what they're saying and bring them forward into public consciousness. It's already put them on front pages in the UK. That's not to say that it will only be a positive effect on them, because while many acts have dealt with things like this before, say the Sex Pistols, for example, or locally, One Four, what is also involved eventually is just the tedium and the financial strain of having to deal with it.
Kimberley Price: For fans like Ruaidhri McWilliams, a Derry native now living in Sydney, Kneecap will continue to resonate.
Ruaidhri McWilliams : It was class. It really represents Irish and Irish culture. So what I like about it is the Irish music, Irish language, and then the fact that they are also bringing in, you know, like, upbeat, like, dance music sort of into it. So, yeah, it's quite, quite extra special.
Kimberley Price: While he enjoys the infusion of dance, music and rap, he says their influence on reviving the Irish language is what sets them apart.
Ruaidhri McWilliams : It's doing a lot, like, throughout the years, it's just got smaller and smaller. So to see someone giving it a, you know, a platform to sort of reignite it, it's brilliant. They're doing a lot for Ireland.
Kimberley Price: Liam O'Hanna is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates Court on June 18. In a statement released on social media, the group says it will vehemently defend itself.
Andy Park: Kimberley Price and Myles Houlbrook-Walk reporting there.