An activist has been cleared of voicing support for Hamas at a student rally outside her university two days after the October 7 attacks.
Sarah Cotte, 22, offered “unconditional solidarity” with the “Palestinian armed resistance” during a speech outside a London college on October 9, 2023, the Old Bailey was told.
The prosecution had asserted that, even though she did not name Hamas, her comments at the gathering publicised on Instagram were “thinly veiled references” to it.
Cotte had denied that her comments were about Hamas, saying she had been supporting “the right to resist”.
Following a week-long retrial, Cotte, from Camden, north London, was found not guilty of expressing support for a proscribed organisation.
At an earlier trial, she was found not guilty of a second charge of expressing support for Hamas on a WhatsApp group.
Throughout her first trial in the summer and subsequent retrial in September, pro-Palestine activists had staged vocal protests outside the Old Bailey.
Jurors were told that on October 7, 2023, an attack was launched on Israel from the Gaza Strip, targeting military bases, civilian communities and social events.
Approximately 1,100 Israelis and 79 foreign nationals were killed, of whom 800 were civilians, at least 282 were women and 36 children.
In addition, 251 people were taken hostage, the court heard.
At the time, Cotte had been a 19-year-old student reading politics, philosophy and economics at the School of Oriental and African Studies (Soas), which is part of the University of London.
On October 9, 2023, she gave a speech to a rally of between 60 and 70 people outside Soas in which she expressed “unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian armed resistance,” jurors were told.
Using a megaphone, she said Palestinians had “broken free” and were rising “against the Zionist state which has been bleeding Palestine dry for nearly 80 years”.
At the end of the speech, which was filmed, there were chants of: “Intifada revolution”.
Seven days later, Cotte made a comment to 113 members of a WhatsApp group for the Fight Racism Fight Imperialism (FRFI) society, of which she was a member.
She had been taking part in a discussion on WhatsApp about the views of left-wing commentator Owen Jones.
During the discussion, Cotte wrote: “The only way for innocent people to stop dying is for the Palestinian Resistance to be victorious.”
Cotte was arrested on January 31, 2024, the court heard.
Giving evidence, Cotte denied that she supported Hamas but said that the deaths of civilians on October 7 “could be justified”.
She told jurors: “I think that the killing of civilians is always a tragedy. At the same time, I don’t think it is a surprise.
“I think saying it is understandable and agreeing with it are two different things, so I think it is understandable and could be justified.”
She added: “I don’t think it’s my role to impose conditions on the Palestinian people and their struggle.
“I don’t support Hamas, and I have never supported Hamas. I was supporting the right to resist.”
The defendant claimed that fellow Soas students would know that when she spoke about Palestinian armed resistance, she did not mean Hamas, but she accepted she did not know everyone at the rally.
The jury deliberated for less than two hours on Friday to reach its not guilty verdict.
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