"I owe eternal gratitude to my legal team, who left no stone unturned in ensuring justice was upheld. This entire process was never about me, never about any threat to the public and never about 'terrorism', a word used by the British government to discredit people you oppress both in Ireland and across the world. It was always about Palestine and about what happens if you dare to speak up."
"In the judgment on Wednesday, Judge Goldspring had agreed with Ó hAnnaidh's lawyers that prosecutors needed to seek the Attorney General's permission to charge the rapper before informing him on May 21 that he would be charged with a terror offence. This permission was not obtained."
"This is bigger than us - whatever kind of stress that we felt, it's minimal compared to the stress put on the families in Gaza. We'll continue to use whatever platform we have to talk about Gaza."
Mo Chara, a Belfast-based rapper performing with Kneecap, was accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag at an O2 Forum concert in London on November 21, 2024. The initial case was dismissed in September with the chief magistrate ruling the proceedings were unlawful. The Crown Prosecution Service appealed this decision at the High Court in January, but two judges upheld the original dismissal and rejected the CPS appeal in a Wednesday judgment. The judge determined prosecutors failed to obtain required Attorney General permission before charging the rapper with a terror offense. Following the ruling, the artist stated the case was fundamentally about Palestine and free speech, not terrorism, and pledged continued activism.
Read at Irish Independent
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