A terrorism charge against the Kneecap rapper Mo Chara, real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, has been thrown out by the chief magistrate due to a technical error.
Ó hAnnaidh had been charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a gig in London last November, but the chief magistrate at Woolwich Crown Court, Paul Goldspring, ruled in favour of the rapper’s defence team that there was a legal error in the way that the charge was brought against him.
The Kneecap member’s defence team argued that the attorney general, Richard Hermer, had not given permission for the case to be brought against Ó hAnnaidh when police told him he was to face a terrorism charge in May of this year. This meant, in Goldspring’s opinion, that the charge against the artist was “unlawful” and “null”.
Sharing the reasons for his decision, he added: “I find that these proceedings were not instituted in the correct form, lacking the necessary DPP [director of public prosecutions] and AG [attorney general] consent within the six-month statutory time limit set by section 127. The time limit requires consent to have been granted at the time or before the issue of the requisition. Consequently, the charge is unlawful and null and this court has no jurisdiction to try the charge.”
The Crown Prosecution Service said it was “reviewing the decision of the court carefully”, and didn’t rule out an appeal.
Outside the court, Mr Ó hAnnaidh said: “This entire process was never about me. It was never about any threat to the public, it was 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. Your attempts to silence us have failed because we’re right and you’re wrong.”
In a post on social media, Kneecap manager Daniel Lambert said: “We have won. Liam Óg is a free man. We said we would fight them and win. We did (Twice). Kneecap has NO charges OR convictions in ANY country, EVER. Political policing has failed. Kneecap is on the right side of history. Britain is not.”
A Metropolitan Police spokesperson said: “We are aware of the decision by the court in relation to this case. We will work with the CPS to understand the potential implications of this ruling for us and how that might impact on the processing of such cases in the future.”
The charge against Ó hAnnaidh was originally brought in May, with hearings for the case having been adjourned a number of times since. In that time, the group have been banned from playing gigs in Hungary and Canada, and were also forced to pull a series of 15 US tour dates due to their proximity to this latest court hearing.
