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Topics: UK News
Emma Rosemurgey
Terrorism charges against Kneecap's Liam Og O hAnnaidh cannot continue due to a 'technical error' that was made when he was charged, a judge has ruled.
The frontman, known as Mo Chara, was charged under the name Liam O'Hanna in May after allegedly flying a flag supporting Hezbollah at a gig in London in November 2024.
The 27-year-old musician vehemently denied the charges against him, branding them a 'carnival of distraction' from the war in Gaza, which he has publicly spoken out against.
Og O hAnnaidh appeared at Woolwich Crown Court; however, the case was quickly thrown out over a technical error.
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"Proceedings against the defendant were instituted unlawfully and are null," the chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, said in his ruling, as per Sky News. "Mr O hAnnaidh, you are free to go."
The court is said to have erupted with cheers from the public gallery, prompting the judge to say: "You can do your celebrating outside, but the court now has other business to attend to."
Goldspring told the court his job was not to determine whether the rapper was guilty or innocent, but to decide whether the court had jurisdiction to hear the case.
He went on to say he agreed with O hAnnaidh's lawyer, Brenda Campbell KC, who argued that the Attorney General had not permitted the case to be brought against the defendant when police informed him he was to face a terror charge on 21 May.
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She said the consent was given the following day, falling outside the six-month time frame in which criminal charges against a defendant can be brought.
"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," he concluded.
"The time limit requires consent to have been granted at the time or before the issue of the requisition.
"Consequently, the charge is unlawful and null and this court has no jurisdiction to try the charge."
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Taking to social media after the ruling, Northern Ireland's First Minister Michelle O'Neill celebrated the ruling, saying the charges were 'part of a calculated attempt to silence those who stand up and speak out against the Israeli genocide in Gaza'.
"Kneecap have used their platform on stages across the world to expose this genocide, and it is the responsibility of all of us to continue speaking out and standing against injustice in Palestine," she wrote.