CPS lose appeal over Kneecap rapper terror case
High Court rules prosecutors acted unlawfully, meaning rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh will not face trial
Kneecap rapper Liam Og O hAnnaidh will not face a terror trial after judges at the High Court rejected a Crown Prosecution Service appeal against the decision to throw out the case.
The rapper, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was accused of displaying a flag in support of proscribed terror organisation Hezbollah at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, on 21 November 2024.
But the case was thrown out in September last year, with chief magistrate Paul Goldspring ruling the proceedings were “instituted unlawfully”.
The Crown Prosecution Service (CPS) appealed against the decision at the High Court at a hearing in January, with the Kneecap rapper opposing the appeal.
In a judgment on Wednesday, two judges at the High Court upheld the decision and dismissed the CPS appeal.
Judge Goldspring had agreed with O hAnnaidh’s lawyers that prosecutors needed to seek the Attorney General’s permission to charge the rapper before informing him on 21 May that he would be charged with a terror offence.
This permission was sought and given the following day, which the court heard meant the charge fell outside the six-month time frame in which criminal charges against a defendant can be brought.
Lord Justice Edis, sitting with Mr Justice Linden, said in Wednesday’s decision that “the judge was right to hold that he had no jurisdiction to try any summary-only offence alleged to have been committed on that date”.
He said: “The respondent has not been tried for his alleged conduct on 21 September 2025 and will not be tried.
“He has not been convicted, and he has not been acquitted.”
Reacting to the ruling, a spokesperson for the Jewish Leadership Council said: “This failure by the Crown Prosecution Service means that alleged support for a terrorist organisation, which is responsible for the deaths of hundreds of Jews, by an artist with a large following, will not be tried. Kneecap’s Mo Chara has not been convicted, nor has he been acquitted, and in the process, justice has been denied.”
In a statement provided through his lawyers, O hAnnaidh said after the decision: “I owe eternal gratitude to my legal team, who left no stone unturned in ensuring justice was upheld.
“This entire process was never about me, never about any threat to the public and never about ‘terrorism’, a word used by the British Government to discredit people you oppress both in Ireland and across the world.
“It was always about Palestine and about what happens if you dare to speak up. About what happens if you can reach large groups of people and expose their hypocrisy.
“I will not be silent. Kneecap will not be silent.”
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