A member of Irish hip hop trio Kneecap has been charged with a terrorism offence following an investigation by London’s Metropolitan Police.
Liam O’Hanna, 27, of Belfast has been charged with allegedly displaying a flag “in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organisation,” London’s Metropolitan Police said on Wednesday.
The charge relates to a flag that was allegedly displayed by O’Hanna – whose stage name is Mo Chara – on November 21, 2024, at the O2 Forum Kentish Town, a music venue in London, “in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a supporter of a proscribed organisation, namely Hezbollah,” the police said in a statement.
“Officers from the Met’s Counter Terrorism Command were made aware on Tuesday, April 22, of an online video from the event. An investigation was carried out, which led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorizing the above charge,” the statement said.
The police added that O’Hanna is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18.
Kneecap have been vocal critics of Israel’s war in Gaza. Earlier this month, UK counter-terrorism police said they were investigating the group after videos emerged allegedly showing the band calling for British politicians to be killed and shouting “up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”
Kneecap has previously said it has never supported Hamas or Hezbollah and that the footage circulating online has been “deliberately taken out of all context” as part of a “smear campaign” following their criticism of Israel and the United States in regards to the war in Gaza.
Separately, video from November 2023 appeared to show one member of the group, who are from Northern Ireland, saying: “The only good Tory is a dead Tory. Kill your local MP.” Tory is another word for Conservative, and MP is an abbreviation of Member of Parliament. In the past decade, two British MPs – Jo Cox and David Amess – have been murdered.
Kneecap later apologized to the families of Cox and Amess.
Both videos have been widely circulated online in wake of the band’s Coachella set, where they led the crowd to chant “Free Free Palestine,” criticized Israel’s campaign in Gaza, and also criticized US support for the war.
Kneecap’s manager, Daniel Lambert, recently told Irish broadcaster RTÉ that the controversy “has nothing to do with Kneecap… it’s about telling the next young band… that you cannot speak about Palestine.”