Irish rapper in court on terror charge over Hezbollah flag
Hundreds of people gathered outside a London court Wednesday in a show of support for the provocative Irish rap group Kneecap as one of the singers appeared charged with a terror offense for allegedly promoting Lebanon's Hezbollah.
Liam O'Hanna, 27, known by his stage name Mo Chara, was charged in May after being accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag during a London concert in November.
He appeared at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday wearing a Palestinian keffiyeh scarf around his neck, and black sunglasses.
Shouts of "Free Palestine" rang out among the crowd outside, as well as from people who were inside the court building.
The Iran-backed Lebanese group Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas are banned in the UK, and it is an offense to show support for them.
Kneecap, which has recently grabbed headlines for statements denouncing the war in Gaza and against Israel, has denied the charge.
"We deny this 'offense' and will vehemently defend ourselves. This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction," the Belfast band wrote on X last month.
The raucous punk-rap group has said the video that led to the charge was taken out of context.
O'Hanna told London's Wide Awake Festival in May that the charge was an attempt to "silence us" after several of their performances were canceled.
A performance in Scotland was pulled over safety concerns, various shows in Germany were axed, and UK government ministers had suggested the organizers of the upcoming Glastonbury festival should reconsider their appearance.
Daring provocateurs to their fans, dangerous extremists to their detractors, the group's members rap in the Irish language as well as English.
Formed in 2017, the group is no stranger to controversy. Their lyrics are filled with references to drugs, they have repeatedly clashed with the UK's previous Conservative government and have vocally opposed British rule in Northern Ireland.
Last year, the group was catapulted to international fame by a semi-fictional film based on them that scooped multiple awards including at the Sundance festival.
- 'Unfazed' -
O'Hanna, Liam Og O Hannaidh in Gaelic, was charged last month after London's Metropolitan Police investigated a video from the festival in Kentish Town, north London, in November 2024.
He is accused of displaying a flag "in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organization," police said.
One of the supporters outside the court on Wednesday, who gave her name as Sadia, denounced the charge as "ridiculous".
"Kneecap actually represent every one of us. They speak for us, you know, because everything they feel, every injustice that they feel, we feel," she told AFP.
The group however apologized this year after a 2023 video emerged appearing to show one singer calling for the death of British Conservative MPs.
Rich Peppiatt, who directed the award-winning semi-autobiographical film about Kneecap, told AFP this week that the group was "unfazed" by the legal charge and controversies.
"Even through all the controversy at the moment, they just shrug their shoulders and get on with it," Peppiatt said.
"They've always been controversial at a local level, and they've always bounced back from it," he added.
In its statement following the charge, the group said: "14,000 babies are about to die of starvation in Gaza, with food sent by the world sitting on the other side of a wall, and once again the British establishment is focused on us."
"We are not the story. Genocide is," it added.
Israel has repeatedly denied that it is committing genocide in its offensive in Gaza, which it says aims to wipe out Hamas.
Prominent British musicians and groups including Paul Weller, Massive Attack, Brian Eno, Pulp and Primal Scream have defended the group and denounced a "concerted attempt to censor and de-platform Kneecap".
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