A London judge recently dismissed a terrorism charge against Mo Chara, a member of the acclaimed Irish-language rap group Kneecap. The judge stated that prosecutors failed to bring the charge ‘in the correct form’ within the designated legal timeframe.
In May, British authorities had charged the rapper, Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh (known as Mo Chara), with displaying a flag associated with Hezbollah, a militant group based in Lebanon that is classified as a terrorist organization in Britain. Publicly showing symbols of such groups is against British law.
In previous interviews, Mr. Ó hAnnaidh, who was formally charged as Liam O’Hanna, explained that he unknowingly picked up the flag at a concert last year after it was thrown onto the stage by an audience member.
On Friday, Judge Paul Goldspring sided with Mr. Ó hAnnaidh’s legal team, agreeing that the prosecution had exceeded the statute of limitations for bringing the charge.
Despite primarily rapping in Irish, Kneecap has seen its popularity skyrocket among English-speaking audiences over the past year. This surge is fueled by a popular comedy film detailing the band’s origins and the rappers’ outspoken pro-Palestinian and anti-Israel commentary during their live shows.
The group boasts over 1.4 million monthly listeners on Spotify and recently performed a sold-out 12,500-capacity concert in London. During this show, they projected messages like “Free Palestine” and other anti-Israel sentiments onto large screens.
However, the band’s strong stance on the Middle East has led to significant controversy. In April, Kneecap lost their U.S. visa sponsor following anti-Israel comments made at California’s Coachella festival. Subsequently, in August, they canceled a planned U.S. tour, which included two sold-out performances in New York.
Kneecap is already prohibited from entering Hungary. Last week, the Canadian government also denied entry to the group, disrupting a planned tour set to begin October 14 in Toronto. Vince Gasparro, Canada’s parliamentary secretary for reducing crime, stated in a public video that Kneecap had ‘amplified political violence’ and ‘publicly displayed support for terrorist organizations.’
In response, Kneecap announced on social media that they would pursue legal action against Mr. Gasparro for his ‘wholly untrue and deeply malicious’ remarks. The band affirmed their commitment to ‘be relentless in defending ourselves against baseless accusations to silence our opposition to genocide being committed in Israel.’
This London court decision marks the band’s second recent legal triumph. In July, police in southwestern England concluded an investigation into comments made by band members during their performance at Glastonbury, Britain’s largest music festival. While specific comments were not detailed by the police, the band had declared ‘Israel are war criminals’ and led the massive crowd in chants of ‘Free, free, Palestine.’