A student has been arrested for supporting Hamas, after UKLFI reported her to counter-terrorism police last October.
Sarah Cotte, a student at SOAS in London, was reported by UKLFI following a speech she made at a SOAS open meeting. During the speech she celebrated the 7 October 2023 massacre of Israelis by Hamas terrorists, saying:
“We at SOAS Fight Racism Fight Imperialism (a SOAS Society) express our unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian Armed Resistance who have broken free from their open air prison in Gaza and are rising across an occupied country, against the Zionist state which has been bleeding Palestine dry for nearly eighty years. Israel has existed for 27,540 days but in less than one day it has been nearly brought to its knees by righteous armed resistance.”
UKLFI reported her to the counter-terrorism police for breaching s12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, by expressing her support of the Hamas terrorism organisation, shortly after their horrendous massacre of Israelis on 7 October 2023, as well as encouraging others to support the terrorist group.
A video of the meeting was posted online by the SOAS ‘Fight Racism Fight Imperialism’ society, of which Sarah Cotte is still listed as the secretary, https://soasunion.org/organisation/10936/ It received hundreds of likes.
UKLFI als reported Ms Cotte to SOAS. When informed that one of SOAS’s students had breached the law by making a speech supportive of the terrorism organization Hamas, Professor Adam Habib, director of SOAS responded
“All in our community will be allowed their freedom of expression and action which will only be circumscribed by our common commitment not to condone hate speech, antisemitism, Islamaphobia, or any other form of cultural or disciplinary chauvinism. ……. Where these principles are in any way breached, we will act decisively and hold individuals accountable.”
The counter-terrorism police posted an announcement on 31 January 2024 that
“Met counter terrorism detectives have arrested a woman on suspicion of a terrorism offence at a protest. The 19-year-old woman from central London was arrested by Met officers in the area at approximately 07:30hrs today, Wednesday, 31 January. She was arrested on suspicion of inviting support for a proscribed organisation, contrary to Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000. The proscribed organisation in this case is Hamas. The alleged offence took place at a pro-Palestine protest in Camden on 19 October. The woman is in custody at a central-London police station.”
We understand that she has since been released on bail.
