Pictured: Mo Chara and supporters outside the court.

by New Worker correspondent

A London court has thrown out a terror-related charge against a member of the Irish-language Belfast hip-hop group Kneecap. Rapper Mo Chara (My Friend), the stage name of Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, had been charged with a single count for waving a flag of the Hezbollah Lebanese resistance movement that’s banned in Britain as a terrorist organisation during a London concert at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town last year.

Last week the chief magistrate sitting at Woolwich Crown Court said the case should be thrown out following a technical error in the way the charge against the rapper was brought.

Northern Ireland’s First Minister Michelle O’Neill welcomed the move, saying: “These charges were part of a calculated attempt to silence those who stand up and speak out against the Israeli genocide in Gaza,” O’Neill, who is also vice-president of Sinn Féin, said: “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.”

The Zionists say Kneecap glorifies Arab resistance movements such as Hamas and Hezbollah. But the group says it doesn’t support Hezbollah or Hamas nor condone violence, and these attacks are simply an effort to silence the band because of its support for the Palestinian cause throughout the war in Gaza.