A UK court on Friday threw out on a technicality a terrorism charge against a Northern Irish singer from the punk rap group Kneecap, after he had displayed a Hezbollah flag on stage.
Cheers erupted from supporters as the judge found there had been a technical error in the case against Liam O’Hanna and told him he was “free to go.”
O’Hanna, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, and his two bandmates had arrived at court wearing keffiyehs and balaclavas in the colors of the Irish flag for the hearing at Woolwich Crown Court in southeast London.
In a statement issued after the case was thrown out, O’Hanna said: “This entire process was never about me, never about any threat to the public and never about ‘terrorism,’ a word used by your government to discredit people you oppress.
“It was always about Gaza. About what happens if you dare to speak up,” he added.
“As people from Ireland, we know oppression, colonialism, famine and genocide. We have suffered and still suffer under ‘your empire,'” the frontman added.
“If anyone on this planet is guilty of terrorism, it is the British state,” he said, adding: “Free Palestine!”
The statement ended with “Tiocfaidh ár lá,” an Irish nationalist slogan meaning “Our day will come,” that was coined during the Troubles in Northern Ireland and frequently invoked by groups such as the Irish Republican Army and Sinn Fein.
O’Hanna, 27, had denied the offense after being charged in May when a video emerged from a November concert in London, in which he was seen at a concert displaying a flag of the Iran-backed Lebanese terror group Hezbollah and shouting: “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah!”
Since the UK banned Hezbollah as a terrorist organization in 2019, it has been an offense to show support for the group. The same clip showed the band singing “Maggie’s in a Box,” celebrating the death of former British Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher.
Other videos showed a member shouting, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP,” referring to lawmakers from the UK’s Conservative Party.
The band later issued a statement declaring they “do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah” and “condemn all attacks on civilians, always.” The statement also included an apology to the families of several murdered Conservative MPs.
In the same post, the band accused “establishment figures” of trying to silence them because of their opposition to the “genocide” in Gaza. The group frequently leads anti-Israel chants, and performed at Coachella in front of video screens, reading “Fuck Israel.”
O’Hanna’s legal team had challenged whether the charge was filed correctly.
“I find that these proceedings were not instigated in the correct form,” chief magistrate Paul Goldspring agreed, adding that “consequently the charges are unlawful and null and the court has no jurisdiction.”
The band had branded the legal process a “witch hunt.” O’Hanna claimed in earlier interviews that he did not know what the Hezbollah flag was and that he was part of a sometimes satirical musical act not to be taken at face value. Kneecap has also said the video was taken out of context.
Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill welcomed the verdict, saying the charges were part of “a calculated attempt to silence those who stand up and speak out against the Israeli genocide in Gaza.”
“Kneecap has used their platform on stages across the world to expose this genocide, and it is the responsibility of all of us to continue speaking out and standing against injustice in Palestine,” she added.