A London jury at the Old Bailey (the Central Criminal Court) has acquitted Sarah Cotte, 22, of expressing support for Hamas following a speech she gave outside the School of Oriental and African Studies in October 2023, two days after the group's attacks on Israel. Prosecutors argued that her declaration of "unconditional solidarity" with the Palestinian resistance was a veiled endorsement of Hamas, which is designated a terrorist organisation under UK law and carries a maximum 14-year prison sentence for those convicted of supporting it. Cotte consistently maintained that her words expressed support for Palestinians' right to resist, not for Hamas itself, and the not-guilty verdict was welcomed by civil liberties advocates as a check on the criminalisation of pro-Palestinian speech.