Two minutes after Kneecap rapper Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh learned he will no longer face terrorism charges, a handwritten sign appeared in a top window of Belfast’s Conway Mill.
Hundreds of supporters who had gathered on the ground floor of the 19th-century former linen mill looked upwards.
Even the fiddlers stopped playing.
“I’m a free mawn,” the small whiteboard sign read.
READ MORE
Cheers followed by a “yeoooo” echoed round the cold stone room where reporters scrambled to get a photo as Ó hAnnaidh’s bandmate DJ Próvaí appeared at the window smiling.
The press conference had not yet begun.
Called in advance by Kneecap on Instagram, the event was timed to coincide with the release of a London high court judgment to determine whether Ó hAnnaidh, known as Mo Chara, would face a fresh terror charge in a UK court.
Moments before the legal ruling was published at 2pm on Wednesday, the mood in the room was upbeat.
A bearded man in a black “Free Mo Chara” T-shirt positioned himself beside a row of television cameras.
Behind him, a pensioner waving an enormous Palestine flag punched the air when she heard the UK government had lost its appeal over a judge’s decision to quash a terror charge against the 28-year-old west Belfast man.
Mo Chara was accused of displaying a flag in support of proscribed terror organisation Hizbullah at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, on November 21st, 2024.
But the case was thrown out in September last year over a legal timing issue, with chief magistrate Paul Goldspring ruling the proceedings were “instituted unlawfully”. In Wednesday’s legal ruling, two judges at the high court upheld the decision and dismissed the crown prosecution service appeal.
As Kneecap descended the steps of the mill on to a podium – against a backdrop of a flag emblazoned with “Saoirse don Phalaistín” (Freedom for Palestine) – the waiting crowd erupted.
Mo Chara joked it was “three-nil” to Kneecap, referencing the number of UK legal challenges he has faced.
“We said we would fight you in your court and we would win, we have three times now. Your own High Court has ruled against you,” he said.
“I will not be silent, Kneecap will not be silent, the people of west Belfast will not be silent.”
The Irish-language rapper told reporters the “entire process was never about me”.
“It was never about any threat to the public and never about terrorism ... it was always about Palestine.
“Your attempts to label me a terrorist have failed because I was right and, yet again, Britain was wrong.”
Insisting the rap trio will “use whatever platform we have” to keep talking about Palestine, Mo Chara added: “We don’t give a f*** about the repercussions any more.”
Solicitor Darragh Mackin described the case as a “witch hunt”.
“Today’s decision brings this expensive circus to an end,” he said.
Kneecap will travel to Cuba next week, according to the band’s manager, Dan Lambert, who accused the UK government of wasting £1 million to “label Mo Chara a terrorist”.
Asked about his lowest point, Mo Chara replied, “trying to get the second album done”, and joked about spending “too much time in Musgrave” (a police station in Belfast).
Outside, Ruairí O’Hare was among the fans waiting in the rain for a glimpse of the departing rappers. The software engineer from Belfast was working in Canada last year where he had hoped to see them perform in Ontario. The gig was cancelled when Kneecap was banned from entering the country due to allegedly “glorifying terrorist organisations”.
O’Hare has never been able to get a ticket to watch them play because “they’re always sold out”.
“What happened in Canada was ridiculous, they should never have been banned,” he said.
“Their music is really good, they don’t get enough credit for it. I think they’re the only punk band around right now, who have the actual bravery to talk about Palestine and things that matter.
“A lot of people are copying them now, but they’re real punk ... the second album will be class.”
