Student cleared of supporting Hamas at London rally

An activist has been cleared of voicing support for Hamas at a student rally outside her university. Sarah Cotte, 22, was found not guilty of expressing support for a proscribed organisation following a retrial at Westminster Magistrates’ Court. The jury deliberated for less than two hours on Friday to reach its verdict.

Charges and Court Proceedings

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Cotte was arrested on January 31, 2024, and faced two counts of expressing support for a proscribed organisation. The prosecution had asserted that comments made by Cotte at a rally on October 9, 2023, and later posted on Instagram, were thinly veiled references to Hamas, even though the organisation was not named. Cotte, who was a 19-year-old student at the School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) at the time, denied that her comments were about Hamas, stating she was supporting “the right to resist”.

Jurors were told that the Hamas attack on October 7, 2023, resulted in the deaths of approximately 1,100 Israelis and 79 foreign nationals, including 800 civilians. The court heard that 251 people were taken hostage. The speech in question was delivered to a rally of between 60 and 70 people outside SOAS.

Defendant's Account

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During her evidence, Cotte stated that she did not support Hamas but believed the deaths of civilians on October 7 could be justified. She told jurors that while the killing of civilians is always a tragedy, it was not a surprise. She added that she did not believe it was her role to impose conditions on the Palestinian people and their struggle, and that she was supporting the right to resist. Cotte claimed that fellow SOAS students would understand her references to Palestinian armed resistance did not specifically mean Hamas, but she accepted she did not know everyone present at the rally.

At an earlier trial, Cotte was found not guilty of a second charge related to expressing support for Hamas via a WhatsApp group. Throughout her trials, pro-Palestine activists staged protests outside the court.