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Int'l Business Times
a day ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Kneecap Rapper Faces Court On Terror Charge Over Hezbollah Flag
A member of Irish rap band Kneecap was due to appear in court on Wednesday charged with a terror offence for allegedly supporting Hezbollah. Liam O'Hanna, 27, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May after being accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London concert in November. The hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London is expected to hear legal arguments on whether the charge falls outside a six-month time limit, a court official confirmed. Since Hezbollah was banned in the UK in 2019, it has been an offence to show support for the Iran-backed Lebanese force. Kneecap has grabbed headlines for statements denouncing the war in Gaza and against Israel. The hearing at Westminster Magistrates' Court in central London comes amid a growing controversy surrounding support for banned organisations. More than 700 people have been arrested, mostly at demonstrations, since the Palestine Action group was also outlawed in early July under the Terrorism Act 2000. The government ban on Palestine Action came into force days after it took responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England that caused an estimated GBP7.0 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft. The group said its activists were responding to Britain's indirect military support for Israel during the war in Gaza. Supporting a proscribed group is a criminal offence punishable by up to 14 years in prison. Hundreds of fans cheered outside the central London court in June when O'Hanna, Liam Og O hAnnaidh in Gaelic, made his first appearance in June. 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 raucous punk-rap group has said the video that led to the charge was taken out of context. Daring provocateurs to their fans, dangerous extremists to their detractors, the group's members rap in the Irish language as well as English. Formed in 2017, the group is no stranger to controversy. Their lyrics are filled with references to drugs, they have repeatedly clashed with the UK's previous Conservative government and have vocally opposed British rule in Northern Ireland. Last year, the group was catapulted to international fame by a semi-fictional film based on them that scooped multiple awards including at the Sundance festival. O'Hanna, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, appeared at this year's Glastonbury festival AFP
Int'l Business Times
3 days ago
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
Irish Literary Star Sally Rooney Pledges UK TV Fees To Banned Pro-Palestine Group
Irish author Sally Rooney has vowed to give fees generated by two BBC adaptations of her books to the Palestine Action group -- banned recently in the UK as a terrorist organisation -- as a government spokesperson on Monday warned anyone flouting the law risked prosecution. The writer, whose second novel "Normal People" (2018) and its 2020 BBC television adaptation won her international acclaim, announced her plans in the Irish Times. Rooney said she had chosen the Dublin-based newspaper to publicise her intention rather than a UK one as doing so "would now be illegal" after the government banned Palestine Action as a terrorist group in early July. "The UK's state broadcaster... regularly pays me residual fees. I want to be clear that I intend to use these proceeds of my work, as well as my public platform generally, to go on supporting Palestine Action and direct action against genocide in whatever way I can," she wrote. More than 700 people have been arrested, mostly at demonstrations, since the group was outlawed under the Terrorism Act 2000. "I feel obliged to state once more that like the hundreds of protesters arrested last weekend, I too support Palestine Action. If this makes me a 'supporter of terror' under UK law, so be it'," Rooney said. The government ban on Palestine Action came into force on July 5, days after it took responsibility for a break-in at an air force base in southern England that caused an estimated GBP7.0 million ($9.3 million) of damage to two aircraft. The group said its activists were responding to Britain's indirect military support for Israel during the war in Gaza. Being a member of Palestine Action or supporting the group is now a criminal offence in Britain, punishable by up to 14 years in prison. More than 500 people were arrested at a protest in London's Parliament Square on August 9 for displaying placards backing the group. The number is thought to be the highest-ever recorded number of detentions at a single protest in the capital. At least 60 of them are due to face prosecution, police said. Britain's interior minister Yvette Cooper has defended the Labour government's proscription of the group, stating that "UK national security and public safety must always be our top priority". "The assessments are very clear -- this is not a non-violent organisation," she said. Prime Minister Keir Starmer's official spokesperson declined to be drawn specifically on Rooney's comments. But the spokesperson added: "Support for a proscribed organisation is an offence under the Terrorism Act and obviously the police will... implement the law." Jilan Wahba Abdalmajid, the ambassador of the state of Palestine in Ireland, praised Rooney for "using her voice to call out international law and human rights violations in Palestine". "I hope these calls result in practical actions that will stop the horrors we're witnessing carried out by Israel in Palestine; to stop the genocide and forced displacement and end the Israeli occupation," she said. Ireland confirmed the appointment of a full Palestinian ambassador last November after Dublin formally recognised a Palestinian state earlier in 2024. Over 500 people were arrested at a protest in London's Parliament Square on August 9 for displaying placards backing the group AFP
Int'l Business Times
25-07-2025
- Politics
- Int'l Business Times
UN Urges UK To Repeal 'Disproportionate' Palestine Action Ban
The United Nationd rights chief on Friday slammed Britain's ban on activist group Palestine Action as a "disturbing" misuse of UK counter-terrorism legislation and urged the government to rescind its move. "The decision appears disproportionate and unnecessary," Volker Turk said in a statement. The ban, introduced under Britain's Terrorism Act 2000, took effect earlier this month after activists from the group broke into an air force base in southern England. Two aircraft were sprayed with red paint, causing an estimated GBP7.0 million ($9.55 million) in damage. Turk's statement said the ban raised "serious concerns that counter-terrorism laws are being applied to conduct that is not terrorist in nature, and risks hindering the legitimate exercise of fundamental freedoms across the UK". He stressed: "According to international standards, terrorist acts should be confined to criminal acts intended to cause death or serious injury or to the taking of hostages, for purpose of intimidating a population or to compel a government to take a certain action or not." But the ban among other things makes it a criminal offence to be a member of Palestine Action, to express support for the group or wear items of clothing that would arouse "reasonable suspicion" that the person is a member or supporter of the group, Turk pointed out. UK police have arrested at least 200 people during protests, many of them peaceful, over the ban since it took effect, the UN rights office said. Palestine Action itself has condemned its outlawing -- which makes it a criminal offence to belong to or support the group, punishable by up to 14 years in prison -- as an attack on free speech. The UN high commissioner for human rights agreed. The ban, Turk said, "limits the rights of many people involved with and supportive of Palestine Action who have not themselves engaged in any underlying criminal activity but rather exercised their rights to freedom of expression, peaceful assembly and association". "As such, it appears to constitute an impermissible restriction on those rights that is at odds with the UK's obligations under international human rights law." The rights chief warned that the government's decision "also conflates protected expression and other conduct with acts of terrorism and so could readily lead to further chilling effect on the lawful exercise of these rights by many people". "I urge the UK government to rescind its decision to proscribe Palestine Action and to halt investigations and further proceedings against protesters who have been arrested on the basis of this proscription," he said. "I also call on the UK government to review and revise its counter-terrorism legislation, including its definition of terrorist acts, to bring it fully in line with international human rights norms and standards."
