Jury out in trial of student accused of Hamas support

A jury has retired to consider its verdict in the trial of a former student accused of expressing support for Hamas a day after its militants entered Israel.

Hanin Barghouthi, 24, is alleged to have expressed an "opinion or belief" in support of the banned group during a speech at a rally in Brighton, East Sussex, on 8 October, 2023.

Kingston Crown Court was previously shown footage of the demonstration when Barghouthi can be heard telling a crowd "yesterday was a victory" and was "beautiful and inspiring".

Barghouthi, from East Sussex, has denied expressing support for a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas.

In the demonstration footage shown to jurors, Barghouthi can he heard saying: "We need to celebrate these acts of resistance because this is a success."

During her evidence, Barghouthi said she had "not known" the full details of what had occurred on 7 October when she made the speech.

She recounted seeing a video on social media on the morning of 7 October, showing a digger heading towards a wall in Gaza.

It showed a "break-out", she said, telling jurors she "didn't believe there was more news other than the break-out".

Barghouthi said she did not know what had happened at the Nova music festival and had not been aware of any hostages and kidnappings.

"I do not support Hamas," she previously told the court.

During his closing speech, Michael Bisgrove, prosecuting, said when Barghouthi spoke at the rally she was "expressing and sharing her support for Hamas and the attack that was carried out the day before".

Michael Mansfield KC, defending, told jurors what she said "was not supportive of Hamas, objectively, and it wasn't intended to be".

At the time of the rally, Barghouthi was studying sociology and culture at the University of Sussex, where she was co-president of the feminist society, jurors were previously told.

Judge Peter Lodder KC told jurors "emotion has no part to play in this trial".

He said: "This case is not concerned with politics.

"It's solely concerned with whether the defendant's behaviour has been proved to be contrary to our domestic law."

Jurors retired to consider their verdicts on Tuesday morning.

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