Alleged Hamas supporter did not know about musical festival attacks, court told

A woman accused of expressing support for Hamas has said that she had “not known” the full details of what had occurred on 7 October when she described the day’s events as a “victory”, a court has heard.

Hanin Barghouthi, 24, is accused of expressing an “opinion or belief” in support of the proscribed organisation during a speech she made at a rally in Brighton, East Sussex, on 8 October 2023.

It occurred a day after the group’s terrorists entered Israel, a trial at Kingston Crown Court previously heard.

At the same court on Tuesday, Barghouthi told jurors that on the morning of October 7, she had opened her phone to find a video on Instagram, which appeared to show a yellow digger moving towards a wall in Gaza.

The defendant described the video as showing a “break out” and said she believed a group of civilians had found the vehicle, fixed it and driven it towards the wall to knock it down.

The defendant said she thought the clip was a “hopeful video” and “didn’t believe there was more news other than the break out”.

Michael Mansfield KC, representing the defendant, asked Barghouthi if she had “heard anything else” about the events in Israel at the time of the speech.

In response, Barghouthi said: “All I saw was the video and a few photos from different angles of the break out, of the digger, that’s all I thought it was.

“I had not heard about Nova, the music festival. I had not known about the hostages, people kidnapped.

“I only knew about the break out.”

When asked about the comments made in her speech that “yesterday was a victory”, she said: “When I say yesterday was a victory, I’m speaking only about the break out because that’s all I knew.”

When asked about her reference to freedom fighters, she said: “I mean it in the most simple terms – fighting for freedom…. just people fighting for freedom.”

She told the court: “I would not use words like celebrate, beautiful, inspiring to speak about any other events on 7 October. I only knew about the break out. That’s what I was using those positive words for.”

She added that it would be “awful” to use those words for the events that she is now aware took place on 7 October, such as at the Nova music festival.

Barghouthi told jurors that all four of her grandparents were born in Palestine, but after the war in 1948, they “all had to leave for their own safety”.

The defendant, who was born in Jordan but moved to Newcastle as a child, said that growing up, Palestine was “kind of a foreign place to me”, adding: “A place where I was from but not allowed to go to.”

Barghouthi told the court that at the time of the rally, she was a sociology student at the University of Sussex.

She was also co-president of the feminist society and had been elected as an officer for the student union but didn’t continue in the role, the court heard.

Mr Mansfield KC described Barghouthi as a “young woman of good character” who is “without any background in terrorism whatsoever”.

He said that there was no mention of Hamas in the speech made by Barghouthi, and said she was concerned with “human rights”.

He added: “What she’s on about is Palestine – not Hamas.”

On Tuesday, jurors were also shown messages sent by Barghouthi in a group chat during the early afternoon on October 7.

In the conversation, she wrote that “it is an amazing day for Palestinian liberation”, adding: “Celebrate now mourn later.”

Barghouthi, from Brighton, previously pleaded not guilty to a single count of expressing an “opinion or belief” in support of a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas.

The trial continues.