A TERRORISM charge against Kneecap band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh has been thrown out of court at a hearing in London this morning.
The 27-year-old rapper, who performs in the Irish language hip hop group under the name Mo Chara, was met with the usual throngs of supporters as well as journalists and photographers as he arrived at Woolwich Crown Court for today’s 10am hearing.
Kneecap’s Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh arriving at court this morning before the charge against him was thrown outIn May the Metropolitan Police’s Counter Terrorism Command charged the Belfast native over a Palestinian flag allegedly displayed at Kneecap’s show at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London on November 21, 2024, a charge he vowed to fight vehemently.
That charge has now been thrown out of court due to a technical error in how it was brought against him.
Today Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring ruled that the charged against him were “instituted unlawfully and are null”.
Mr Goldspring agreed with Ó hAnnaidh’s lawyers that the attorney general had not given permission for the case to be brought against him when police first informed him that he was being charged.
Following the hearing, Kneecap manager Daniel Lambert said: “We have won! Liam Óg is a free man.”
In a post on social media, he added: “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. “Free Palestine.”
Sinn Féin MP Paul Maskey has welcomed news, saying the magistrate’s decision was “the right one”.
“Kneecap have bravely and unapologetically used their platform around the world to call out Israel’s genocide and the complicity of western governments,” the West Belfast MP said in a statement made outside the court this morning.
“It is the Israeli war criminals and those who fund, support and enable genocide and forcibly starve women and children who should be before the courts, not Kneecap’s Mo Chara,” he added.
“The British political assault on Kneecap which led to this case has failed. Today, those on the right side of history have prevailed.”