Kneecap terror trial: Mo Chara’s case is thrown out

The terror charges brought against Kneecap‘s Mo Chara have been thrown out on a technicality.

READ MORE: Kneecap on the cover – giving peace, protest and partying a chance

The Belfast rap trio will be appeared at court a third time today (Friday September 26), with the location moved from Westminster Magistrates to Woolwich Crown Court due to a burst water main. The band once again invited fans and supporters to gather outside – telling followers that “the witch-hunt continues”.

The trial was levelled against band member Mo Chara – real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, 27 – who found himself charged over an alleged incident where he reportedly displayed a Hezbollah flag during a Kneecap show last November and shouted “up Hamas, up Hezbollah”. Both are listed as proscribed terrorist organisations by the UK Government.

The band responded to the news by posting a graphic, reading: “18 Months Of Genocide Footage Not Under Investigation By UK Counter-Terror Police”. The graphic was then captioned with the words: “Some facts”. They later denied the offence and vowed to “vehemently defend ourselves”.

“This is political policing,” they wrote. “This is a carnival of distraction. We are not the story. Genocide is”. Mo Chara maintains that he didn’t know what the flag was when he picked it up and the comments were a joke in character.

Kneecap have consistently denied supporting either Hamas or Hezbollah, and said that they do not incite or condone violence. They have also argued that the footage at the UK shows had been taken out of context, and described the legal action as a “carnival of distraction”.

Now, the case has been thrown out on a technicality around the way in which the case was brought about, with Chief Magistrate Paul Goldspring telling Woolwich Crown Court that the charge against Ó hAnnaidh was “unlawful” and “null”, as BBC reports.

Taking to Twitter to celebrate, the band’s manager Daniel Lambert wrote: “We have won!!!!!! Liam Óg is a free man. We said we would fight them and win. We did (twice)

“Kneecap has NO charges OR convictions in ANY country, EVER. Political policing has failed. Kneecap is on the right side of history. Britain is not. Free Palestine.”

READ MORE: Kneecap’s Mo Chara’s terror charge: the story so far, as supporters accuse government of hypocrisy

Mo Chara’s first appearance back in June saw a huge crowd – including support Paul Weller – gather outside as Og O hAnnaidh attended court to simply confirm his name, date of birth and Belfast address. He was released on unconditional bail until his next hearing on August 20. This was to allow time for legal arguments regarding the timeframe in which charges were issued, an Irish interpreter is to be sourced for the next hearing.

We have won!!!!!!

Liam Óg is a free man.

We said we would fight them and win.

We did. (Twice)

Kneecap has NO charges OR convictions in ANY country, EVER.

Political policing has failed.

Kneecap is on the right side of history.

Britain is not.

Free Palestine

— Daniel Lambert (@dlLambo) September 26, 2025

 

In the run-up to the charges, the band’s profile was rapidly on the rise when they courted more international controversy and headlines following their Coachella 2025 appearance in April. This saw them amplify their long-held pro-Palestine messaging by displaying the words “Fuck Israel” on the screens, while telling the US crowd that “Israel is committing genocide against the Palestinian people… it is being enabled by the US government who arm and fund Israel despite their war crimes”.

Speaking outside the court at the first appearance, a Kneecap spokesperson spoke of the hundreds of concerts the band had played “without a single complaint”.

“Around the world, Kneecap are hailed as heroes,” he continued, before hitting out at the British courts for a “rushed prosecution following their Coachella performance, where Kneecap did not shy away from speaking their truth to power.”

He went on: “The reality is that Kneecap will stand up against political oppression, to defend their rights and the rights of artists and people all around the world. It is not new for Irish people to be prosecuted under special powers for terrorism acts.”

Kneecap performing at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME

Being greeted once again by chants of “free Mo Chara” while supporters watched guest speakers and performances of Irish folk songs and protest anthems, the band returned to Westminster Magistrates Court on Wednesday August 20 – but the case was again adjourned while the court considered whether the case had been brought within the statutory six-month limit.

Mo Chara’s lawyers said that they were seeking to throw out the case, arguing that the terror charge against him was brought outside the time limit. They claimed that it was brought a day after the six-month limit for such charges. However, prosecutors argued the charge was brought exactly within the time limit.

Defence counsel Brenda Campbell KC told the court that the Attorney General had not given permission for the case to be brought against Mo Chara when police informed him he was to face a terror charge on May 21. However, prosecutor Michael Bisgrove said permission was not required until the defendant’s first court appearance.

Kneecap at Glastonbury 2024. Credit: Andy Ford for NME

Kneecap have defended their “satirical” live sets, arguing: “It’s not our job to tell people what’s a joke and what’s not.” Kneecap subsequently claimed that the government and their critics “want to make us seem small”. They’ve also denied accusations of anti-Semitism and inciting violence, claiming that “those attacking us want to silence criticism of a mass slaughter”.

This summer saw Love Music Hate Racism share a statement saying that the charity “stands with Kneecap”, while the band’s collaborator Toddla T spoke out against a secret letter from the “musical elite” – that was reportedly written to try and have the group kicked off the Glastonbury 2025 bill. Reports that Dua Lipa sacked her agent for his part in this letter turned out to be untrue in that he wasn’t working for the singer at the time, while Lipa did stand by her support of Palestine.

The band went on to play the West Holts stage at Glastonbury, where they led chants of “fuck Keir Starmer” after he argued that it wasn’t “appropriate” for the band to perform at the festival.

Kneecap responded to the Prime Minister’s initial call for them to be axed from Glasto writing: “You know what’s ‘not appropriate’ Keir?! Arming a fucking genocide.”

Later speaking to NME about his comments, Starmer doubled-down: “Kneecap shouldn’t be performing at Glastonbury, and I don’t support inciting violence as free speech. I think it’s important that we distinguish the issues we all care about and should be spoken about freely on the one hand, and then the incitement to violence on the other. They’re two different things.”

“There’s a huge difference between speaking out about what’s happening in parts of the world,” he told NME. “All of us are concerned by what we’re seeing in Gaza – whether that’s the continued detention of hostages or the intolerable lack of aid that we’re seeing, starvation… everybody should be able to speak out about that.”

Starmer recently led the UK government in recognising Palestine as a state to “keep alive” the possibility of peace, while also rejecting that Israel was committing genocide. However, a UN Human Rights Council report recently concluded that there was “reasonable grounds that the Israeli authorities and Israeli security forces have committed and are continuing to commit… genocide against the Palestinians in the Gaza Strip”. Israel continue to deny war crimes and accusations of genocide.

Last month The British Red Cross reported that the death toll was over 61,000, including over 17,000 children with at least 150,000 people have been injured. The charity also stated that 1,200 people were killed in the Hamas attack on October 7 2023, with more than 5,400 injured and over 200 hostages taken.

Crowds at the West Holts stage as Kneecap perform at Glastonbury 2025. Credit: Andy Ford for NME

Kneecap spoke out against the Prime Minister and the terror charges again at their massive London gig last week, with Moglai Bap telling the crowd: “Fuck me, Kneecap at Wembley Arena? Keir Starmer must be fucking raging.”

Mo Chara said that he “wasn’t the first and I won’t be the last Irishman in court in London on trumped up terrorism charges,” arguing that “all we’re doing is filling a void that the politicians aren’t filling,” before Moglai Bap concluded that “Music is all about people, and people is all about politics”.

In a five-star review of their Wembley Arena show, NME concluded: “You don’t pull off a gig like that on controversy alone. You need bangers and you need a culture to fill this room. Kneecap have all that, and they’re a fucking good laugh. There’s no call for violence, there’s nothing that should land someone in front of a judge, just solidarity and a rave against the dying of the light.

“The state may try to crush them, but Kneecap have a power of their own. As they spit on ‘It’s Been Ages’: “Controversy won’t phase us, we hold all the cards and they’re aces, try to protect your kids but they’ll hear us”.”

Last year saw Kneecap release their critically-acclaimed debut album ‘Fine Art’ as well as their BAFTA-winning self-titled biopic film.

A video from a show in November 2023 that allegedly showed the band telling the crowd that “the only good Tory is a dead Tory, kill your local MP” was also investigated by counter-terrorism police, before it was confirmed that the band would not be prosecuted.

This month also saw Kneecap banned from entering Canada, with officials claiming they had “made statements that are contrary to Canadian values” that “have caused deep alarm”. Parliamentary Secretary for Combating Crime Vince Gasparro said that the group had “amplified political violence and publicly displayed support for terrorist organisations such as Hezbollah and Hamas”. Kneecap responded by promising legal action against Gasparro, saying that his statements were “wholly untrue and deeply malicious”.

“We have today instructed our lawyers to initiate legal action against you,” the group said. “We will be relentless in defending ourselves against baseless accusations to silence our opposition to a genocide being committed by Israel. When we beat you in court, which we will, we will donate every cent to assist some of the thousands of child amputees in Gaza,” they added. “We have played in Canada many times with zero issues and a message of solidarity and love.”

The band are among the 400+ artists including Fontaines D.C. and Massive Attack taking part in the No Music For Genocide campaign, and vowing to prevent their music from being streamed in Israel.

Kneecap continue to tour the UK and Europe throughout autumn and winter 2025. Visit here for tickets and more information.

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