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Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who is facing a terrorism charge, has been released on unconditional bail after his lawyers challenged the validity of the case.
Ó hAnnaidh, 27, from Belfast, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, is accused of displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation, and chanting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah” at a gig in north London on 21 November last year.
Outside the court, one van drove by with a side-hoarding offering a re-wording of an old racist slogan: “More blacks, more dogs, more Irish, Mo Chara.”
At a hearing at Westminster magistrates court on Wednesday, Ó hAnnaidh’s defence team argued that the charge, which was made on 22 May, was outside the six-month window required to fall under the court’s jurisdiction.
Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring set a new date, 20 August, to hear arguments to establish whether the court has jurisdiction. Ó hAnnaidh has been released on unconditional bail until then.
Prosecutor Michael Bisgrove told the court: “This case is not about Mr hAnnaidh’s support for the people of Palestine or his criticism of Israel.”
He said Ó hAnnaidh was “well within his rights” to express his support and solidarity for Palestinians, but that the alleged incident was a “wholly different thing”.
After leaving the courtroom to join a crowd of hundreds of fans and protesters with his bandmates, Naoise O Cairealláin and JJ Ó Dochartaigh, Ó hAnnaidh was greeted with applause, drumming and clouds of pink smoke.
A member of Ó hAnnaidh’s legal team told the crowd: “Over 18 countries, 100,000 fans, 80 concerts and not a single complaint. Around the world Kneecap are hailed as heroes for speaking truth to power, but in the British court they’ve been criminalised and today the truth was outed – this was a rushed prosecution following the Coachella performance where Kneecap did not shy away from speaking truth to power.”
In a brief speech outside the court, Ó hAnnaidh told cheering fans that Kneecap would be performing at 4pm on Saturday at Glastonbury festival, and began a chant of “Free, free Palestine”.
A large number of fans of the band had gathered around the court from early on Wednesday morning, lending the hearing a carnival atmosphere. Supporters carried Irish, Palestinian and anti-fascist flags.
Others arrived with handmade placards displaying puns on Irish-language phrases – including “Céad mílefair”, a play on “céad míle fáilte” (a hundred thousand welcomes), “tiocfaidh ár láwyers”, a play on the Republican slogan “tiocfaidh ár lá” (our day will come), and “seasaím le Liam Óg” (I stand by little Liam) – among the plethora of the professionally printed posters by socialist-worker organisers.
