Terrorism charge against Kneecap rapper thrown out on technicality

A terrorism charge against the Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh has been thrown out by the chief magistrate owing to a technical error.

- Matthew Weaver

Ó hAnnaidh had been charged with a terrorism offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, last November.

Sitting at Woolwich crown court, the chief magistrate, Paul Goldspring, yesterday agreed with Ó hAnnaidh's defence team, who had argued there was a legal mistake in the way the charge was brought against him.

Ó hAnnaidh told supporters afterwards: “We will not be silent.”

His defence team, led by Brenda Campbell KC, argued that the attorney general, Richard Hermer, had not given permission for the case to be brought against the defendant when police informed him he was to face a terrorism charge on 21 May.

Goldspring ruled that the charge against the 27-year-old Belfast musician was “unlawful” and “null”. Concluding the reasons for his decision, he 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.