"Chief magistrate Paul Goldspring, who sat at Woolwich Crown Court on 26 September, had said the charge brought against O hAnnaidh was unlawful and that he had no jurisdiction to try the case. His ruling agreed with O hAnnaidh's lawyers, who argued that the Attorney General had not given permission for the case to be brought against the defendant when police informed him he was to face a terror charge on 21 May."
"Concluding the reasons for his decision, the chief magistrate said: I find that these proceedings were not instituted in the correct form, lacking the necessary DPP (Director of Public Prosecutions) and AG (Attorney General) consent within the six-month statutory time limit. The time limit requires consent to have been granted at the time or before the issue of the requisition. Consequently the charge is unlawful and null and this court has no jurisdiction to try the charge."
"A terrorism case against the rapper was thrown out following a technical error in the way the charge against him was brought. The 27-year-old from Belfast, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, was accused of displaying a flag in support of proscribed terror organisation Hezbollah at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, north London, in November last year."
The Crown Prosecution Service will appeal after the chief magistrate dismissed the terrorism charge against Kneecap rapper Liam Og O hAnnaidh. The charge was thrown out because of a technical error in how it was brought, with the magistrate ruling that necessary DPP and Attorney General consent was not obtained within the six-month statutory time limit. The 27-year-old from Belfast, known as Mo Chara, was accused of displaying a Hezbollah flag at an O2 Forum gig in Kentish Town in November. O hAnnaidh said the rap trio would not be silenced and framed the process as being about Gaza. Prosecutors had previously argued consent was not required until the defendant's first court appearance.
Read at www.independent.co.uk
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