{"id":31250,"date":"2025-06-18T11:50:57","date_gmt":"2025-06-18T11:50:57","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/rapper-released-on-unconditional-bail-over-terror-charge\/"},"modified":"2025-06-18T11:50:57","modified_gmt":"2025-06-18T11:50:57","slug":"rapper-released-on-unconditional-bail-over-terror-charge","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/rapper-released-on-unconditional-bail-over-terror-charge\/","title":{"rendered":"Rapper released on unconditional bail over terror charge"},"content":{"rendered":"


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Kneecap rapper Liam \u00d3g \u00d3 hAnnaidh, better known as Mo Chara, leaving Westminster court in central London<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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A rapper with Irish language hip-hop group Kneecap has been released on unconditional bail after appearing in a London court on a terror charge.<\/p>\n

Liam \u00d3g \u00d3 hAnnaidh, charged under the name Liam O’Hanna, is accused of displaying a flag in support of proscribed organisation Hezbollah at a London gig.<\/p>\n

The 27-year-old, who performs under the name Mo Chara, <\/b>arrived at Westminster Magistrates’ Court accompanied by band members M\u00f3gla\u00ed Bap (Naoise \u00d3 Caireall\u00e1in) and DJ Pr\u00f3va\u00ed (JJ \u00d3 Dochartaigh).<\/p>\n

Supporters of the group offered a round of applause outside a court in London on Wednesday, after the appearance. <\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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Liam \u00d3g \u00d3 hAnnaidh, with fellow band member M\u00f3gla\u00ed Bap (Naoise \u00d3 Caireall\u00e1in) and JJ O’Dochartaigh aka DJ Pr\u00f3va\u00ed (JJ \u00d3 Dochartaigh) outside court on Wednesday<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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Mr \u00d3 hAnnaidh will appear at court for the next hearing on 20 August.<\/p>\n

The chief magistrate Paul Goldspring told him he must attend court on that day.<\/p>\n

He asked whether or not Liam \u00d3g \u00d3 hAnnaidh needed an Irish interpreter to be present in court.<\/p>\n

The chief magistrate said: “We were going to have one today, but I will be blunt. We couldn’t find one.”<\/p>\n

In court, prosecutor Michael Bisgrove said: “This case is not about Mr \u00d3 hAnnaidh, support for the people of Palestine or his criticism of Israel.”<\/p>\n

He told the court Liam \u00d3g \u00d3 hAnnaidh is “well within his rights” to express his support and solidarity for Palestinians.<\/p>\n

“The allegation in this case is a wholly different thing and deals with a video recording showing that, in November of last year, Mr O hAnnaidh wore and displayed the flag of Hezbollah, a proscribed terrorist organisation, while saying ‘up Hamas, up Hezbollah’.<\/p>\n

“Of course, support for the one is not the same as support for the other.<\/p>\n

“So the issue in this case, and the reason it has come to court, it centres on the apparent support by Mr O hAnnaidh of a proscribed terrorist organisation.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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One of the people protesting outside Westminster court ahead of the hearing of Kneecap rapper Liam \u00d3g \u00d3 hAnnaidh<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The court room was full and court staff had to bring in more seats for journalists.<\/p>\n

Inside the court were representatives of the Irish language lobby and Sinn F\u00e9in MPs John Finucane and Paul Maskey.<\/p>\n

In a statement, posted on social media in May, Kneecap said: “We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves.”<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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A large crowd outside the court in London on Wednesday<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n
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The band arrived at court on Wednesday wearing “Free Mo Chara” T-shirts.<\/p>\n

Musicians, supporters, and activists crowded outside court. <\/p>\n

Large green flags saying “Free Speech, Free Palestine” are also on display.<\/p>\n

A mixture of Palestinian and Kneecap flags were being held by some of the crowd, and cheers were heard after a van drove past displaying the slogan “More Blacks, More Dogs, More Irish, Mo Chara”.<\/p>\n

The slogan is a spin on a well-known discriminatory phrase found outside some UK boarding houses from the 1950s.<\/p>\n

Kneecap said it had “plastered” London with messages of support for its band member.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n

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The group go by the stage names of Mo Chara, M\u00f3gla\u00ed Bap and DJ Pr\u00f3va\u00ed<\/figcaption><\/p>\n<\/figure>\n

Who are Kneecap?<\/h2>\n<\/p>\n
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The film won a British Academy of Film Award<\/a> (Bafta) in February 2025.<\/p>\n

In April, the group faced criticism<\/a> after displaying messages about the war in Gaza during their set at US music festival Coachella.<\/p>\n

In November 2024, the group won its case against the UK government over a decision Kemi Badenoch took when she was a minister to withdraw an arts grant<\/a>.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/div>\n


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PA Media Kneecap rapper Liam \u00d3g \u00d3 hAnnaidh, better known as Mo Chara, leaving Westminster court in central London A rapper with Irish language hip-hop group Kneecap has been released on unconditional bail after appearing in a London court on a terror charge. Liam \u00d3g \u00d3 hAnnaidh, charged under the name Liam O’Hanna, is accused […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":31251,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[48],"tags":[882,4555,2761,881,300,10579],"class_list":["post-31250","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-n-ireland","tag-bail","tag-charge","tag-rapper","tag-released","tag-terror","tag-unconditional"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31250","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=31250"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31250\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":31252,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/31250\/revisions\/31252"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/31251"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=31250"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=31250"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/news.godj.com\/news\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=31250"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}