Woman 'did not know' full details of Hamas attacks

A woman accused of expressing support for Hamas has said she had "not known" the full details of the 7 October attacks when she described the day's events as a "victory", a court has heard.

Hanin Barghouthi is accused of expressing an "opinion or belief" in support of the banned organisation during a speech she delivered at a rally in Brighton on 8 October, 2023.

A trial at Kingston Crown Court previously heard Barghouthi was alleged to have reacted with "joy" and "support" to the news following the banned organisation's attack in Israel.

The 24-year-old, from East Sussex, has previously denied the charge.

Earlier on Tuesday, Barghouthi told jurors that on the morning of 7 October, she found a video on Instagram which appeared to show a yellow digger moving towards a wall in Gaza.

The defendant described the video as showing a "break-out", adding she believed a group of civilians had found the vehicle, fixed it and drove it towards the wall to knock it down.

The defendant said she thought the clip was a "hopeful video" and "didn't believe there was more news other than the break-out".

Michael Mansfield KC, defending, asked Barghouthi if she had "heard anything else" about the events in Israel at the time of the speech.

Barghouthi replied: "All I saw was the video and a few photos from different angles of the break out.

"I had not heard about Nova, the music festival. I had not known about the hostages and people being kidnapped."

She told the court that had she known more about the music festival, kidnaps and killings, then "the only kind of event I would have gone to would be a vigil".

She denied intending to support Hamas in her speech, and said: "I do not support Hamas".

Barghouthi told the court: "I don't believe in kidnapping people, I don't believe that is fighting for freedom."

She said her politics "did not align" with Hamas.

The defendant said until 7 October, she believed Hamas was a "small rebel group" comprised mostly of boys and young men.

When asked about the comments made in her speech that "yesterday was a victory", she said she was "speaking only about the break-out" because it was "all she knew".

She told the court she "would not use words like 'celebrate', 'beautiful' and 'inspiring' to speak about any other events on 7 October" as it would be "awful".

Barghouthi told jurors all four of her grandparents were born in Palestine, but after the war in 1948, they "all left for their own safety".

The defendant, who was born in Jordan but moved to Newcastle as a child, said while growing up, Palestine was "kind of a foreign place" to her, adding it was a "place where I was from but not allowed to go to".

The court heard at the time of the rally, the defendant was a University of Sussex sociology student, served as co-president of the feminist society and a student union officer.

Mansfield described Barghouthi as a "young woman of good character" who was "without any background in terrorism whatsoever".

He said there was no mention of Hamas in Barghouthi's speech, adding she was "concerned with human rights".

Mansfield said the defendant was "talking about Palestine, not Hamas".

The trial continues.

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