A School of Oriental and African Studies (SOAS) student was charged last Tuesday for allegedly endorsing and celebrating the October 7 massacre in a speech and inviting support for Hamas, the London Metropolitan Police announced Monday.
Camden resident Sarah Cotte faced two charges for supporting a proscribed organization once on a WhatsApp group and once for an October 2023 speech that circulated on social media.
"We at SOAS Fight Racism Fight Imperialism (FRFI) 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," Cotte allegedly said in her speech. "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.”
A now deleted Met press release about Cotte's arrest stated that the speech was made on October 19, but an FRFI North London activist bragged in a Monday Instagram that the speech was made on October 9, two days after the "Operation Al-Aqsa Flood."
Watchdog GnasherJew brought attention to the incident in 2023, and United Kingdom Lawyers for Israel and other activists said that they had reported Cotte to the police. The FRFI North London activist on Instagram criticized the police for arresting Cotte at the behest of "Zionists on Twitter."
Cotte had been arrested earlier this year
Cotte was arrested last January and is due to appear at Westminster Magistrates' Court on 24 March.
FRFI North London called for protests outside the court on the date of Cotte's arraignment, arguing Monday that it was an attempt to suppress free speech and advocacy for the "defense of Palestine."
FRFI has repeatedly referred to a second SOAS student who had been charged for terrorism offenses in relation to the incident, but the Met had not yet confirmed the charges in response to Jerusalem Post inquiries.
"The right to express any support for the Palestinian struggle for national liberation is at stake in this case. The alleged Terrorism offence carries a penalty of up to 14 years in prison. We therefore urge all supporters of Palestinian self-determination to join this protest and support the SOAS 2 Defence Campaign," FRFI said in a Friday Instagram post. "This deliberate, calculated targeting of two young members of our organisation is an attempt to intimidate and censor any expression of support for the Palestinian freedom struggle. It is an attack on the entire solidarity movement."