Counter-terror police probe videos of Kneecap calling for death of MPs
The group have dominated the news agenda this week after a clip from a gig in November 2023 emerged where a member says : 'The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.'
In another video from November 2024 a member of the band appeared to shout 'up Hamas, up Hezbollah'. Both groups are banned as terrorist organisations in the UK.
READ NEXT: Calls for Irish rappers Kneecap to be axed from TRNSMT 2025
READ NEXT: Kneecap statement after Swinney calls for trio to be axed from TRNSMT
Earlier this week counter-terror police said they were assessing the footage but it has now been confirmed officers have determined there are grounds for further investigation "into potential offences linked to both videos".
In a statement, the Metropolitan Police said: 'On April 22, we were made aware of an online video believed to be from a music event in London in November 2024. Following this, we were made aware of a further video, believed to be from another music event in London in November 2023.
'Both videos were referred to the Counter Terrorism Internet Referral Unit for assessment by specialist officers, who have determined there are grounds for further investigation into potential offences linked to both videos.
'The investigation is now being carried out by officers from the Met's Counter Terrorism Command and inquiries remain ongoing at this time.'
Video has emerged from a November 2023 gig appearing to show one member of the trio saying: 'The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.'
The rap trio said earlier this week they have never supported Hamas or Hezbollah and condemned all attacks on civilians, apologising to the families of murdered MPs Jo Cox and Sir David Amess, saying 'we never intended to cause you hurt'.
They said a video extract had been deliberately taken out of context and was being 'exploited and weaponised'.
We previously reported that their was calls for them to be axed from the TRNSMT line-up.
The trio are set to perform at the Glasgow Green festival on Friday, July 11.
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The Independent
an hour ago
- The Independent
Lebanon aims to lure back wealthy Gulf tourists to jumpstart its war-torn economy
Fireworks lit up the night sky over Beirut's famous St. Georges Hotel as hit songs from the 1960s and 70s filled the air in a courtyard overlooking the Mediterranean Sea. The retro-themed event was hosted last month by Lebanon's Tourism Ministry to promote the upcoming summer season and perhaps recapture some of the good vibes from an era viewed as a golden one for the country. In the years before a civil war began in 1975, Lebanon was the go-to destination for wealthy tourists from neighboring Gulf countries seeking beaches in summer, snow-capped mountains in winter and urban nightlife year-round. In the decade after the war, tourists from Gulf countries – and crucially, Saudi Arabia – came back, and so did Lebanon's economy. But by the early 2000s, as the Iran-backed militant group Hezbollah gained power, Lebanon's relations with Gulf countries began to sour. Tourism gradually dried up, starving its economy of billions of dollars in annual spending. Now, after last year's bruising war with Israel, Hezbollah is much weaker and Lebanon's new political leaders sense an opportunity to revitalize the economy once again with help from wealthy neighbors. They aim to disarm Hezbollah and rekindle ties with Saudi Arabia and other Gulf countries, which in recent years have prohibited their citizens from visiting Lebanon or importing its products. 'Tourism is a big catalyst, and so it's very important that the bans get lifted,' said Laura Khazen Lahoud, the country's tourism minister. On the highway leading to the Beirut airport, once-ubiquitous banners touting Hezbollah's leadership have been replaced with commercial billboards and posters that read 'a new era for Lebanon.' In the center of Beirut, and especially in neighborhoods that hope to attract tourists, political posters are coming down, and police and army patrols are on the rise. There are signs of thawing relations with some Gulf neighbors. The United Arab Emirates and Kuwait have lifted yearslong travel bans. All eyes are now on Saudi Arabia, a regional political and economic powerhouse, to see if it will follow suit, according to Lahoud and other Lebanese officials. A key sticking point is security, these officials say. Although a ceasefire with Israel has been in place since November, near-daily airstrikes have continued in southern and eastern Lebanon, where Hezbollah over the years had built its political base and powerful military arsenal. Tourism as a diplomatic and economic bridge As vital as tourism is — it accounted for almost 20% of Lebanon's economy before it tanked in 2019 — the country's leaders say it is just one piece of a larger puzzle they are trying to put back together. Lebanon's agricultural and industrial sectors are in shambles, suffering a major blow in 2021, when Saudi Arabia banned their exports after accusing Hezbollah of smuggling drugs into Riyadh. Years of economic dysfunction have left the country's once-thriving middle class in a state of desperation. The World Bank says poverty nearly tripled in Lebanon over the past decade, affecting close to half its population of nearly 6 million. To make matters worse, inflation is soaring, with the Lebanese pound losing 90% of its value, and many families lost their savings when banks collapsed. Tourism is seen by Lebanon's leaders as the best way to kickstart the reconciliation needed with Gulf countries -- and only then can they move on to exports and other economic growth opportunities. 'It's the thing that makes most sense, because that's all Lebanon can sell now,' said Sami Zoughaib, research manager at The Policy Initiative, a Beirut-based think tank. With summer still weeks away, flights to Lebanon are already packed with expats and locals from countries that overturned their travel bans, and hotels say bookings have been brisk. At the event hosted last month by the tourism ministry, the owner of the St. Georges Hotel, Fady El-Khoury, beamed. The hotel, owned by his father in its heyday, has acutely felt Lebanon's ups and downs over the decades, closing and reopening multiple times because of wars. 'I have a feeling that the country is coming back after 50 years,' he said. On a recent weekend, as people crammed the beaches of the northern city of Batroun, and jet skis whizzed along the Mediterranean, local business people sounded optimistic that the country was on the right path. 'We are happy, and everyone here is happy,' said Jad Nasr, co-owner of a private beach club. 'After years of being boycotted by the Arabs and our brothers in the Gulf, we expect this year for us to always be full.' Still, tourism is not a panacea for Lebanon's economy, which for decades has suffered from rampant corruption and waste. 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Telegraph
an hour ago
- Telegraph
Pro-Palestinian protester in two-tier police row is Islamist refugee
A pro-Palestinian activist who evaded terror charges in a two-tier policing row is an Islamist propagandist granted asylum in Britain, The Telegraph can reveal. The demonstrator, who avoided prosecution after chanting ' I love the 7th of October ' at a London rally last year, can now be named as Mohammad al-Mail, a 27-year-old Kuwaiti national granted refugee status in the UK in 2017. In May, The Telegraph published footage of Mr Mail glorifying the Hamas massacre and shouting, 'I like an organisation that starts with H' through a megaphone at an anti-Israel protest in Swiss Cottage, north-west London, last September. He was later arrested on suspicion of terrorism offences but never charged. By contrast, a Jewish man who attended a counter-protest on the same day and briefly held a placard mocking Hezbollah's leader was charged after police claimed the sign could cause 'distress' to terrorist sympathisers. It took eight months for the Crown Prosecution Service to admit there was insufficient evidence to prosecute. The Telegraph can now reveal that Mr Mail claimed he avoided prosecution by telling counter-terrorism officers that the 'H' in his chant stood for the Home Office, rather than Hamas. In footage obtained by The Telegraph – which police confirmed they had not seen – Mr Mail appears to boast of misleading investigators. In an Arabic-language podcast aired in March, he said the case 'fell apart' after he gave what appeared to be a knowingly false answer when asked: 'Who do you mean by the letter H?' He said: 'Immediately, I answered, 'It could be the Home Office', you know, the ministry of the interior. 'I love the ministry of the interior', and so on. 'Truly, as the saying goes, 'The worst calamity is the one that makes you laugh'', he joked, adding that officers 'wanted to delve into the depths of my conscience to know what I truly believe'. The Metropolitan Police twice referred his case to the CPS but he was never charged. A source familiar with the case said prosecutors declined to bring charges, fearing it would be 'speculation' to infer support for a proscribed group from his chant. The Telegraph can also reveal that Mr Mail's support for terror groups was not limited to the Sept 20 protest. Since being granted asylum, he has used the Upper Hand Organisation, his campaign group, to promote an Islamist ideology fundamentally at odds with British democratic values. In the same podcast, he urged supporters to 'seize opportunities' created by the October 7 attack – the worst massacre of Jews since the Holocaust. 'Not every day is like October 7,' he said. 'If an opportunity arises, we must fully exploit it. If you strike, make it hurt.' His website hosts a string of Islamist manifestos and incendiary texts. 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On Nov 11 2024, Mr Mail announced he would surrender to police over his chants but told supporters to 'continue the path of jihad'. He described peaceful Muslims as 'slaves and dwarves' and issued a warning to Britain: 'What is coming to you is terrifying – either our annihilation or yours.' In recent months, he has used his platform to lobby Parliament to de-proscribe Hamas and divert taxpayer funds to sharia courts. He also opposes the banning of child marriage, arguing it discriminates against 16 and 17-year-old Muslim girls. In a statement to The Telegraph, the Met said it was unaware of Mr Mail's apparent admission and record of Islamist advocacy until contacted by this newspaper. A spokesman said the force 'does not believe the material provided to us was known to officers at the time of their initial investigation. It did not form part of the case put to the CPS'. 'Officers will carefully review it to identify any offences so the appropriate action can be taken.' The case has been condemned as an example of two-tier policing, deepening embarrassment for Scotland Yard and raising concerns over national security among senior politicians and extremism experts. On Friday evening, Chris Philp, the shadow policing minister, said that, in light of The Telegraph's latest revelations, 'the police must urgently re-investigate the incident with a view to re-arresting the man concerned'. He added: 'I am deeply worried that someone came here, was granted asylum and then abused the UK's generosity by expressing extremist views. This is why our human rights and asylum laws need to be changed.' His comments were echoed by Lord Walney, the Government's former extremism tsar, who described the latest evidence uncovered by this newspaper as 'disturbing and raises serious questions for the Metropolitan Police'. 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The Upper Hand Organisation, which he founded in 2012, was already active in Kuwait when Mr Mail arrived in Britain. During his studies, he was convicted in absentia of 13 offences by the Gulf state, including defaming the Emir and spreading subversive ideas, receiving a combined sentence of 53 years. He said these were politically and religiously motivated and was granted asylum in the UK on May 5 2017. He later received a partial pardon but remains in the UK. A Home Office spokesman said: 'Supporting a proscribed organisation is a serious criminal offence. The investigation and prosecution of criminal offences, including determining whether an offence has been committed or not, is a matter for the police and Crown Prosecution Service, who are operationally independent. 'It is our longstanding policy not to comment on individual cases.'
Scotsman
an hour ago
- Scotsman
Why Labour's Davy Russell produced the funniest by-election result of my lifetime
Sign up to our daily newsletter – Regular news stories and round-ups from around Scotland direct to your inbox Sign up Thank you for signing up! Did you know with a Digital Subscription to The Scotsman, you can get unlimited access to the website including our premium content, as well as benefiting from fewer ads, loyalty rewards and much more. Learn More Sorry, there seem to be some issues. Please try again later. Submitting... I have reacted to by-election results over the years with despair and delight in roughly equal measures. However, I have never laughed so much as I did in response to this one. That wasn't just because Labour won in the face of relentlessly negative soothsaying. Nor was it just because pundits and prognosticators who feed off the received wisdom of each other were made to look stupid, delicious though that is. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad The bonus was that the result exposed the sleekit politics of John Swinney so effectively. He falsely framed the by-election as a crusade against Reform UK which only he, Honest John, could forestall – and lost not only the vote but also his credibility. Scottish Labour's leader and deputy, Anas Sarwar and Jackie Baillie, celebrate Davy Russell's election as the MSP for Hamilton, Larkhall and Stonehouse. Picture: Jeff| Getty Images Voters ignore Swinney's crude strategy Time and again, he claimed it was 'a straight fight between SNP and Reform'. I don't expect a lot from Swinney but even I found it surprising that the First Minister of Scotland should front such a crude strategy. A little dignity, slightly above the fray, would not have gone amiss. A couple of months ago, it was 'Scotland' that must unite against Reform and we had Swinney's ridiculous summit to brand them outcasts beyond the political pale. Then, hey presto, a by-election comes along and it was only the SNP which could stop them; party and nation conflated. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad READ MORE: Labour pulls off stunning victory over SNP as Davy Russell set for Holyrood The big laugh is that while lazy commentators regurgitated this script, the voters ignored it. Twenty-six per cent voted Reform anyway while enough of the rest voted Labour. The SNP's whole campaign was built around a lie and it backfired beautifully. While they were talking about Farage, Labour was hearing basic concerns from actual voters. Unsurprisingly, these tended to be about the state of the NHS and impoverishment of local government rather than abstractions such as a candidate declining the invitation to be baited in a televised rabble. Received wisdom Was I surprised by the result? Well, yes and no. When it was called, I expected it to be a fairly straightforward SNP hold. They had a decent majority to defend; the circumstances of the by-election arising were entirely devoid of scandal; the Labour government had not exactly covered itself in glory over ten months. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad On top of that, our old friend 'received wisdom' suggested that a strong showing by Reform would further split the 'unionist' vote, though I was sceptical about whether the constitutional question is of great relevance to Reform's appeal. On the other hand, I knew the relentlessly upbeat tone of Labour's well-organised campaign reflected what they were hearing on the fabled doorsteps. This was at odds with Swinney's 'vote SNP to stop Reform' con trick – and if Labour's number crunchers knew that to be untrue, so did the SNP's. Labour will celebrate with good cause but won't get carried away. It was still a close-run thing but its importance is that it changes the narrative. It leaves Anas Sarwar with a clear message to prosecute – that if you want change next year, there is only one way to deliver it. Having got back onto that front foot, they now have to stay there. 'Peak Reform' Scottish Labour's decline in fortunes since last July has been entirely linked to perceptions of the UK Government, which are beginning to improve. However, if the same thing is not to happen again, it will be essential that every Whitehall action is viewed, in significant part, through the Scottish and Welsh electoral prisms, which certainly did not happen last July. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad I think there probably is a 'peak Reform' in Scotland, ironically because they are fishing in the same pool of general disgruntlement that the SNP used to rely on. Much of that is now directed against government from Edinburgh, creating room for a populist party which is not the SNP, but only up to a point. Sensible voices have warned against branding Reform voters racists or extremists rather than people with a legitimate sense of frustration about conditions in which they and their communities find themselves. I am sure that is where most of the Reform votes in this by-election came from. Then Nigel Farage turns up with a bizarre attack on Anas Sarwar, suggesting he owes more loyalty to Pakistan than to Scotland. It's as if Farage can't help himself. Almost nobody whose votes Reform did not already have could take this charge seriously while it must have driven away a fair number of undecideds, for now and the future. Tories should hold their nerve What the Reform vote confirms is not that there are 26 per cent racists and extremists in South Lanarkshire but that there is a gap in the Scottish market for a party of the right which does not have Tory on the label. Indeed, that was personified by the Reform candidate who, six months ago, was a Tory councillor. A change of rosette took him from six per cent to 26. Advertisement Hide Ad Advertisement Hide Ad Maybe more than any other party, the Scottish Tories have a vested interest in the Reform star waning over the next 11 months. Given the past record of parties with which Farage has been associated, that is quite likely to happen. The best bet for the Scottish Tories is to hold their nerve and hope for that outcome, rather than lurch to the right in order to compete. But the biggest loser from this by-election deserves to be John Swinney who has always survived by political calculation rather than any higher principle. This time, he seriously miscalculated and ended up with less than 30 per cent of the vote. It's 'game on' for long overdue change.
