Student cleared of supporting Hamas at London rally

Sarah Cotte, 22, has been cleared of expressing support for Hamas during a speech at a student rally. The Old Bailey jury returned a not guilty verdict on Friday after deliberating for less than two hours. Cotte, from Camden, was also acquitted of a second charge related to a comment made in a WhatsApp group.

The charges

The prosecution had alleged that Cotte's speech on October 9 2023, outside the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas), which was later publicised on Instagram, contained "thinly veiled references" to Hamas. Cotte denied this, stating she was supporting "the right to resist" and had offered "unconditional solidarity" with Palestinian armed resistance. The court heard that the speech occurred two days after an attack on Israel from the Gaza strip.

During the speech, which was filmed and delivered using a megaphone to an estimated 60 to 70 people, Cotte stated that Palestinians had "broken free" and were rising "against the Zionist state which has been bleeding Palestine dry for nearly 80 years." Chants of "Intifada revolution" followed the address. Cotte was arrested on January 31 2024.

WhatsApp comment

The second charge related to a comment Cotte made on October 16 2023, within a WhatsApp group for the Fight Racism Fight Imperialism (FRFI) society. Cotte was part of a discussion about left-wing commentator Owen Jones when she wrote: "The only way for innocent people to stop dying is for the Palestinian Resistance to be victorious." She had previously been found not guilty of this charge at an earlier trial.

Defence and verdict

Giving evidence, Cotte, who was a 19-year-old student at Soas at the time of the speech, denied supporting Hamas. She told jurors that while she thought the deaths of civilians on October 7 "could be justified," she did not support Hamas and had never done so. She stated she was supporting the right to resist and did not believe it was her role to impose conditions on the Palestinian people's struggle. Cotte claimed that fellow Soas students would understand her references to Palestinian armed resistance did not specifically mean Hamas, though she acknowledged she did not know everyone at the rally.

The jury deliberated for less than two hours before reaching its not guilty verdict on both charges. Pro-Palestine activists had staged protests outside the Old Bailey during both Cotte's first trial and the subsequent retrial.