Liam O’Hanna ( Liam Óg Ó Hannaidh), a member of Irish-language rap group Kneecap, has been charged with a terror offence.
The charge is related to his reportedly displaying a flag in support of Hezbollah at a concert in London in November 2024.
The Lebanese Shia Islamist political party and paramilitary group is proscribed as a terrorist organisation and banned under UK law.
The UK’s Metropolitan Polce said O’Hanna, whose stage name is Mo Chara, had been charged via postal requisition.
He has been summoned to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Wednesday 18 June.
The charge follows the band running into the hot water at the Coachella in April after they projected “fuck Israel,” “free Palestine” and other messages of protest against U.S. support of the Israel-Hamas war in Gaza on the screen of the festival’s Sonora Stage. The messages were condemned by leading Jewish human rights organizations in the U.S.
Hailing from West Belfast the pro-Irish Republican, Pro-Palestinian band have long had a big following at home in Northern Ireland and neighboring Ireland.
They gained wider international recognition following Rich Peppiatt’s biopic Kneecap, capturing the group’s evolution and pioneering of their own genre of Irish punk rap, melding the Irish and English language.
Starring its members Móglai Bap, Mo Chara, and DJ Provaí alongside Michael Fassbender, Simone Kirby, Josie Walker, Fionnuala Flaherty, Jessica Reynolds and Adam Best, the film was Ireland’s submission for the Best International Feature Film this year.