The terror case against Kneecap rapper Mo Chara (real name Liam Og O hAnnaidh) cannot move forward on a technicality, a UK court has ruled.
In May, Ó hAnnaidh was charged with a terror offense after allegedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a concert in London in November 2024. He denied wrongdoing.
The 27-year-old appeared at Woolwich Crown Court on Friday, where chief magistrate Paul Goldspring ruled: “Proceedings against the defendant were instituted unlawfully and are null.”
Goldspring said the “proceedings were not instituted in the correct form” because the charge was not brought within the six-month statutory time limit.
BBC News and Sky News reported that the public gallery at Woolwich Crown Court erupted in applause when the ruling was read out.
Writing on X/Twitter, Kneepcap manager Daniel Lambert said: “We have won Liam Og 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.”
Hailing from West Belfast, the pro-Irish Republican, pro-Palestinian band has long had a big following at home in Northern Ireland and neighboring Ireland.
They gained wider international recognition following Rich Peppiatt’s biopic Kneecap, capturing the group’s evolution and pioneering of their own genre of Irish punk rap, melding the Irish and English language.
Starring its members Móglai Bap, Mo Chara, and DJ Provaí alongside Michael Fassbender, Simone Kirby, Josie Walker, Fionnuala Flaherty, Jessica Reynolds and Adam Best, the film was Ireland’s submission for the Best International Feature Film this year.
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