A member of the Irish hip-hop group Kneecap, Liam O’Hanna, 27, of Belfast, has been charged with a terrorism offense by London’s Metropolitan Police. The charge stems from an alleged display of a flag “in support of Hezbollah, a proscribed organization,” at a music venue in London last November, CNN reported.
According to a statement from the Metropolitan Police, the charge relates to an incident on November 21, 2024, at the O2 Forum Kentish Town, where O’Hanna, known by his stage name Mo Chara, allegedly displayed a flag “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 Met’s Counter Terrorism Command initiated an investigation after an online video from the event surfaced on April 22. This investigation led to the Crown Prosecution Service authorizing the charge. O’Hanna is scheduled to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on June 18.
Kneecap has been a prominent critic of Israel’s military actions in Gaza. The band previously stated that they “never supported Hamas or Hezbollah” and that footage circulating online has been “deliberately taken out of all context” as part of a “smear campaign” following their criticisms of Israel and the United States.
In 2019, the British government formally announced that it intends to ban the political wing of Hezbollah, after previously having banned only its military arm.
In contrast, the European Union has blacklisted Hezbollah’s military wing as a terrorist organization, while failing to blacklist the group’s political arm.