LONDON:
A member of Irish rap group Kneecap has been charged with a terror offence for allegedly displaying a Hezbollah flag at a London concert, police said on Wednesday.
Liam O’Hanna, 27, known by his stage name Mo Chara, is accused of showing support for the Lebanese militant group, who are proscribed by British authorities, during a performance on November 21.
London’s Metropolitan Police said officers from its Counter Terrorism Command launched an investigation after a video of the event surfaced online in April.
O’Hanna is accused of displaying a flag “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation” in contravention of the 2000 Terrorism Act.
The rapper, from Belfast, is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18, police said.
The group had been scheduled to perform at a festival in London on Friday.
The charge follows growing scrutiny of Kneecap’s performances after footage circulated online showing provocative political statements made by the band on stage.
One video appeared to show a band member shouting: “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”
Those groups, in Gaza and in Lebanon, are banned as terror organisations in the UK and it is a crime to express support for them.
Censorship debate
The band, known for its confrontational style and Irish nationalist messaging, has denied supporting violence or banned groups.
It said video footage had been “deliberately taken out of context”.
The backlash led to the cancellation of several of the group’s shows, including in southwest England and Germany.
The group’s songs include Get Your Brits Out and Better Way To Live.
The controversy has sparked a wider debate about artistic expression and political censorship.
The family of Conservative MP David Amess, who was fatally stabbed by an Islamic State group follower in 2021, called for an apology while the party leader Kemi Badenoch called for the band to be banned.
In a statement in April, the band denied promoting extremist views and apologised to the families of Amess and Jo Cox, who was murdered in 2016 by a neo-Nazi sympathiser a week before the divisive Brexit referendum.
“We do not, and have never, supported Hamas or Hezbollah,” the group said.
Nearly 40 musicians and groups, including Pulp, Paul Weller, Primal Scream and Massive Attack, have publicly backed Kneecap, accusing authorities of suppressing creative freedom.
Irish Prime Minister Micheal Martin had urged the band to clarify whether they supported the groups or not.
An attack in Israel on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of 1,218 people, mostly civilians, according to an AFP tally based on official Israeli figures.
Israel’s military response in Gaza has triggered a humanitarian crisis, with the territory’s health ministry on Tuesday putting the death toll at 53,655.
