Palestinian flags flew in front of London’s Woolwich Crown Court on Friday, September 26th, after a magistrate ruled in favor of Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh of Irish language rap trio Kneecap.
Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring referred to a technical mistake made by the Attorney General and detected by the musician’s defence team. The court aimed to prosecute Ó hAnnaidh—stagename Mo Chara—with displaying a Hezbollah flag during a Kneecap gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, in November 2024.
Subsequently, the ‘musician’ and his group were banned from several venues and had performances canceled, although now the charges of terrorism will be dropped.
The chief magistrate at Woolwich Crown Court dismissed the charge, citing a technical error by the prosecution. According to Goldspring, the prosecution gave permission to bring charges too late, making the charges against the 27-year-old musician “unlawful” and “null”. Explaining his decision in court, Goldspring said
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.
Representing the prosecution, Michael Bisgrove stated that no permission is required to initiate criminal proceedings and that the consent of the public prosecutor and the attorney general is only required after the defendant’s first court appearance.
Goldspring rejected the prosecution’s argument, saying that they were “defying logic”, but the Crown Prosecution Service reminded him that the decision can be appealed and it is “reviewing the decision of the court carefully”.
When the charges were dropped, Kneecap’s fans gathered in front of the court building and waved Palestinian flags. The artist’s manager, Daniel Lambert, made the following statement on X:
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. Free Palestine.
Kneecap’s victory is also something of an embarrassment for Britain’s Labour government, as Richard Hermer, Baron Hermer, is the Attorney General for England and Wales—and would have been involved in the legal action against the group, who take their name from a type of punishment shooting. Hermer is also the architect of Britain’s ‘Chagos deal,’ already widely seen as disastrous.
