Sinn Féin councillor Martin Hearty says the Public Prosecution Service (PPS) has decided not to prosecute him over a T‑shirt he wore at a Gaza fundraiser event last year.
The south Armagh representative had been reported to police in relation to an incident on September 19, 2025 and was investigated under Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000 – an offence which can carry a maximum sentence of up to 14 years’ imprisonment.
In a letter addressed to Cllr Hearty, the PPS said it had “decided, having considered the evidence currently available, not to prosecute you in relation to an incident on the 19th day of September 2025 for which papers were submitted to our offices by the police”.
In a statement, Cllr Hearty said he had been targeted for wearing an anti‑genocide T‑shirt at a Gaza solidarity fundraiser, and welcomed the PPS decision.
He claimed the case had arisen after a complaint to police and said officers had been “attempting to charge me and my T‑shirt with a breach of Section 13 of the Terrorism Act 2000”.
Describing the investigation as “farcical”, he added: “I’m one of thousands of people across the north east of Ireland and Britain that have faced these charges as a result of the English Prime Minister’s ludicrous (and now illegal) attempt to ban Palestine Action.
“The truly sickening part of this whole debacle is that a recently declassified report has revealed that the British Government are aware of 2000 people in Britain who joined the Israeli army during the genocide in Gaza.
“Keir Starmer has 2000 child killing war criminals walking around his country and not one of them has even been questioned about their actions. Instead, police dragged pensioners, disabled people and retired nurses and doctors into vans for opposing that genocide.
“I trust, now that they have been told to cop themselves on by the PPS, the PSNI will turn their attention to things like burglaries and assaults instead of wasting time and resources protecting a genocide from criticism.”
Cllr Hearty concluded: “We are all Palestine Action! Saoirse don Phalaistín!”
