Kneecap singer returns to court as UK prosecutors appeal dropped terrorism charge
The group has had several international performances cancelled following backlash over its vocal support for Palestinians in Gaza.
An Irish-language singer from punk-rap group Kneecap is back before the courts on Wednesday as British prosecutors challenge a decision to drop a terrorism charge against him.
Kneecap have urged their legion of fans to show up outside the Royal Courts of Justice in London to support Liam O'Hanna, who performs under the name Mo Chara.
The "British state witch-hunt against Mo Chara continues, come show your support Wednesday 9.30 High Court, London", the Belfast-based group said in a post on X on Monday.
Woolwich Crown Court in September threw out a charge of supporting terrorism brought against O'Hanna, accused of displaying a flag of the Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah at a November 2024 concert in London.
The judge found a technical error in the way the charge was brought under the 2000 Terrorism Act.
But the following month, the Crown Prosecution Service, which prosecutes cases before courts, said it would appeal the decision "as we believe there is an important point of law which needs to be clarified".
Kneecap said the CPS's decision to appeal was "unsurprising" and called it a "waste of taxpayers money" in a statement posted on social media.
"We will fight you in your court again. We will win again," the group added in the October post.
O'Hanna, 28, named Liam Og O Hannaidh in Irish, was charged in May when a video emerged from the London concert in which he allegedly displayed the Hezbollah flag, an offence the singer has denied.
But chief magistrate Paul Goldspring found the charge was not brought by prosecutors within the legal time limit.
In a 13-page written ruling, Goldspring said: "These proceedings were not instituted in the correct form."
"Consequently, the charge is unlawful and null. This court has no jurisdiction to try the charge," Goldspring said, as huge cheers erupted from Kneecap fans in the public gallery.
Belfast-based Kneecap, whose members sing in Irish and regularly lead crowd chants in support of Palestinians in Gaza, have previously addressed the controversy surrounding the Hezbollah flag, saying it had been thrown onto the stage and describing the charge as an attempt to silence them over their opposition to Israel’s atrocities in Gaza.
'Always about Gaza'
The band have had multiple international concerts cancelled over their pro-Palestinian stance and other controversies.
Canada barred Kneecap in September from entering the country, citing the group's alleged support for Hezbollah and the Palestinian resistance group Hamas.
But their performance in Paris in September went ahead despite objections from French Jewish groups and government officials.
The group also played southwest England's vaunted Glastonbury Festival in June and drew packed audiences in Tokyo last week.
Posting on X on January 1 about the appeal, Kneecap said: "It is the view of our legal team that there is not an iota of logic for this, it is without any sound legal basis."
"We will not be silent," the group vowed.
O'Hanna has maintained that the band's stand "was always about Gaza, about what happens if you dare to speak up".