RAP GROUP KNEECAP has recruited a team of prominent human rights and criminal defence lawyers ahead of a trial in which one of its members accused of alleged terror offences.

Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, has been charged over the alleged display of a flag in support of militant group Hezbollah at a gig at the O2 Forum in Kentish Town, London, in November last year.

The 27-year-old Belfast native is to appear at Westminster Magistrates’ Court on Monday. Ó hAnnaidh has not spoken individually since the charge was confirmed, but Kneecap as a band has said they will contest the charges.

“We deny this ‘offence’ and will vehemently defend ourselves,” a statement said last month. “This is political policing. This is a carnival of distraction.”

Posting online today, the band said Ó hAnnaidh will be represented by Darragh Mackin, of Pheonix Law, who represented families of the Stardust fire in a recent inquiry into the event and previously represented the band in a funding dispute case.

Mackin is also joined by barristers Brenda Campbell, KC, who also represented families in the Stardust inquiry and Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh, KC, an international law expert with a specialism in protest law.

Ní Ghrálaigh, a Co Mayo native, appeared before the International Court of Justice last year on behalf of South Africa in its genocide case against Israel.

Fellow freedom of speech and human rights barrister Jude Bunting, KC, Just Stop Oil solicitor Rosalind Comyn and criminal defence expert Gareth Peirce, who represented the Birimingham 6 and Guilford 4, also join the defence team.

In a post, the band said: “We will fight you in your court. We will win.”

 Ó hAnnaidh is accused of committed an offence under the UK’s Terrorism Act, Section 13 (1) which says:

“A person in a public place commits an offence if he a) wears an item of clothing or b) wears, carries or displays an article, in such a way or in such circumstances as to arouse reasonable suspicion that he is a member or supporter of a proscribed organisation.”

The band have come to international prominence for their outspokenness on Israel’s ongoing bombing and siege of Gaza which has killed over 50,000 people and has brought the enclave to the brink of famine.