Victory to SOAS 2: Former SOAS Student Found Not Guilty in ‘Free Speech’ Trial

Written by Anna Hamerow, SOAS News Section Editor, BA International Relations.

On 18 September, a jury at the Old Bailey unanimously found former SOAS student Sarah Cotte not guilty of expressing support for Hamas during a speech made outside the university in 2023. The charges against her were Count 1, ‘inviting support for a terrorist organisation,’ and Count 2, ‘expressing an opinion or belief supportive of a proscribed organisation.’

Prosecuted under Section 12 of the Terrorism Act 2000, Cotte faced up to 14 years in prison if found guilty. Cotte repeatedly denied these charges, telling the court: ‘I don’t support Hamas and I have never supported Hamas. I was supporting the right to resist.’ 

This verdict brings to an end nearly three years of legal proceedings, including a previous eight-day trial in June 2026 that resulted in an acquittal on one charge and a hung jury on the second.

"It shows that when we fight, we win."

In a speech delivered on the SOAS steps on 9 October 2023 as part of the SOAS Fight Racism! Fight Imperialism! Society, Sarah Cotte, a second-year BSc Politics, Philosophy, and Economics student at SOAS at the time, expressed ‘unconditional solidarity with the Palestinian armed resistance.’ The speech did not mention the proscribed terrorist organisation Hamas. A video of the speech was then shared on the online platform X by the anonymous user @gnasherjew, who tagged SOAS, the Met Police, and the Terrorism Police.

Following complaints made by the pro-Israel group UK Lawyers for Israel, the Met Police arrested Cotte and raided her home on 31 January 2024. A second SOAS student was also arrested, but never prosecuted. Cotte’s phone records were downloaded, and private WhatsApp messages between family and friends were used by the prosecution against her. 

During the eight-day trial, Cotte continued to reject the prosecution’s claims that she had expressed support for Hamas. Rather, she argued that the speech supported the Palestinian people’s internationally recognised right to armed resistance against genocide. This refers to Protocol I to the Geneva Conventions, which gives oppressed peoples the right to armed struggle against colonial domination and alien occupation. 

In an interview with The SOAS Spirit following her acquittal, Cotte reflected on the significance of the verdict, saying, ‘It has shown people that you do have the right to support the Palestinian resistance, including the right to armed struggle.’

‘In the Palestine movement, it’s not something that everybody defends. You find that the more liberal trends never talk about the Palestinian people as people who are freedom fighters. It’s important for those who are the vanguard of this movement to assert this right.’

Cotte also spoke about how the court victory exemplified ‘the power of collective organising and the necessity to put up political collective defences when attacked in such a political way.’

Following the charges brought against Cotte and the arrest of another SOAS student, the Revolutionary Communist Group launched the campaign ‘Defend the SOAS 2.’ This campaign held public rallies and daily protests outside the court throughout both of Cotte’s trials. The ‘Defend the SOAS 2’ campaign was also active in the court protests and support rallies for many other Palestine activists facing similar charges. 

‘I didn’t fight this case alone,’ said Cotte, ‘I fought it with my comrades.’ I don’t think that there would’ve been the same outcome if we didn’t fight in the way that we did, having this public platform about my case, and telling people about how free speech and the right to mobilise are being penalised. It shows that when we fight, we win.’ 

Cotte’s acquittal does not exist in isolation. Earlier this year, separate juries delivered not guilty verdicts for Tony Greenstein and Kwabena Devonish, both of whom were facing similar charges of expressing support for Hamas under the Terrorism Act. 

Introduced under Tony Blair’s Labour government, the Terrorism Act 2000 replaced and expanded temporary legislation used to police Irish liberation organisations. Section 12 of this legislation, under which Cotte was charged, makes it a criminal offence to invite support for a proscribed organisation and, in certain circumstances, recklessly expressing an opinion or belief supportive of such an organisation. This includes Hamas, which was proscribed in its entirety as a terrorist organisation in 2021 by the UK government. 

More recently, the Labour government under Keir Starmer made the controversial decision to proscribe Palestine Action, the first direct action group to be banned under the Terrorism Act in British history. Since the group’s proscription, Novara Media has reported a 1,553% increase in terror arrests, with 94% of these arrests linked to support for Palestine Action. 

Speaking about the Terrorism Act, Cotte told SOAS Spirit that ‘the legislation does not exist in a vacuum. It is inherently political.’ ‘They’re going to use this legislation to come after people who fundamentally have different objectives and goals, which are incompatible with those of the ruling class of this country. I always say scrap the Terrorism Act.’ 

When asked about the importance and role of student activism, particularly at SOAS, Cotte urged students to ‘get off campus and be involved in organising beyond the academic space.’ ‘Nothing happens without organisation. Things happen because people have structures, organisations, and a politics which drives them to do things.’