A jury has retired to consider its verdicts in the trial of a former Sussex University student who is accused of expressing support for Hamas a day after its militants entered Israel.
Hanin Barghouthi, 24, is accused of expressing an “opinion or belief” in support of the proscribed organisation in a speech that she made at a rally at the Clock Tower, in Brighton, on Sunday 8 October 2023.
Jurors at Kingston Crown Court have previously been shown footage of the demonstration – and Barghouthi can be heard telling the crowd that “yesterday was a victory” and was “beautiful and inspiring to see”.
She said: “We need to celebrate these acts of resistance because this is a success.”
In her evidence, Barghouthi said that she had “not known” the full details of what had occurred on Saturday 7 October when she made the speech.
She described seeing a video on social media on the morning of Saturday 7 October showing a digger moving towards a wall in Gaza.
The defendant described the video as showing a “breakout” and told jurors that she “didn’t believe there was more news other than the breakout”.
Barghouthi said that she did not know what had occurred at the Nova music festival and had not been aware of any hostages and kidnappings.
She told jurors: “I do not support Hamas.”
In his closing speech, Michael Bisgrove, prosecuting, said that the defendant “was expressing and sharing her support for Hamas and the attack that was carried out the day before” when she spoke at the rally.
Michael Mansfield, defending, told jurors that what the defendant had 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 Sussex University where she was co-president of the feminist society, jurors were previously told.
She had also been elected as women’s officer for the student union but did not continue in the role, the court heard.
Judge Peter Lodder, the honorary recorder of Richmond, told jurors that “emotion has no part to play in this trial”.
He told jurors: “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.”
Barghouthi, from Brighton, pleaded not guilty to a single count of expressing support for a proscribed organisation, namely Hamas.
