Prosecutors in the United Kingdom charged a rapper from Northern Ireland with a terrorism offence in connection with a video allegedly showing him draped in a Hezbollah flag.
Liam O’Hanna, known as Mo Chara, is to stand trial, allegedly for supporting the U.K.-designated terrorist organization during a 2024 performance in London, police said on Wednesday.
According to the Metropolitan Police, O’Hanna is accused of displaying a flag “in support of a proscribed organization” while performing with his Irish band Kneecap, which made headlines last month for projecting “F*** Israel, free Palestine” at the Coachella music festival in California.
The charge follows renewed scrutiny after two controversial videos resurfaced online on April 22. One shows a band member shouting, “The only good Tory is a dead Tory” and “Kill your local MP.” In the other, a performer—alleged to be O’Hanna—is seen apparently wearing a Hezbollah flag and shouting, “Up Hamas, up Hezbollah.”
Both videos are under investigation by the Metropolitan Police’s Counter-Terrorism Command, The Jewish Chronicle reported.
Kneecap has denied supporting terrorist groups or advocating violence, stating it does not “support proscribed terror organizations” and does not “advocate for violence against anyone.”
O’Hanna, 27, from Belfast, is due to appear at Westminster Magistrate’s Court on June 18.
Organizers of next month’s Glastonbury Festival in England are under pressure from performers and celebrities to remove the Kneecap trio from its lineup due to the controversies surrounding the group. Kneecap has threatened to sue music industry figures who have allegedly called for their exclusion from the event.
