Irish rapper Liam O’Hanna welcomes ruling in case he says was ‘by no means about any menace to the general public, by no means about terrorism’.
Revealed On 11 Mar 2026
British prosecutors have misplaced an enchantment looking for to reinstate a “terrorism” charge in opposition to a member of Irish rap group Kneecap accused of waving a Hezbollah flag throughout a gig in London.
London’s Excessive Court docket on Wednesday rejected prosecutors’ makes an attempt to problem a decrease courtroom’s choice to throw out the case in opposition to Liam O’Hanna in September as a consequence of a technical error.
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The choice means the case won’t proceed. In a press release, the Crown Prosecution Service mentioned the Excessive Court docket had “clarified how the legislation applies” to such circumstances and that it accepted “the judgement and can replace our processes accordingly”.
O’Hanna – often known as Liam Og O hAnnaid (his title in Gaeilge, the Irish language) and by the stage title Mo Chara (“My Buddy”) – was charged in May of final 12 months with displaying a Hezbollah flag throughout a November 2024 live performance in London, in violation of the UK’s 2000 Terrorism Act.
Kneecap’s members – who rap in Gaeilge and English and have been outspoken of their condemnation of Israel’s genocide in opposition to Palestinians within the Gaza Strip – have known as the tried prosecution a “British state witch-hunt”.
O’Hanna welcomed the ruling on Wednesday, saying throughout a information convention in Belfast that the case was “by no means about me, by no means about any menace to the general public and by no means about terrorism”.
“It was all the time about Palestine, about what occurs if you happen to dare to talk up, about what occurs if you happen to can attain massive teams of individuals and expose their hypocrisy, in regards to the lengths Britain will go to cowl up Israeli and US battle crimes,” he mentioned.
Cheered by supporters on the occasion, O’Hanna was joined by Kneecap bandmates JJ O Dochartaigh and Naoise O Caireallain – higher identified by their respective stage names, DJ Provai and Moglai Bap.
“Your individual Excessive Court docket dominated in opposition to you,” O’Hanna added, addressing the UK authorities.
“The pathetic factor about this entire course of is that you just falsely tried to label me a terrorist when it’s the British authorities ministers which might be arming and helping a genocide in Gaza, the destruction of Lebanon, and the mindless slaughter of schoolkids in Iran.”
