Latest news with #IntheNameoftheFather
Extra.ie
2 days ago
- Politics
- Extra.ie
Kneecap member's legal team includes barrister who freed Birmingham Six
Kneecap member Mo Chara- who was formally charged with terrorism offences at a London court on Wednesday – has hired a crack defence team. His legal reps include the barrister who successfully defended the wrongfully convicted Birmingham Six bombers; a solicitor who acted for Paddy Jackson in the notorious 'rugby trial' and an international rights lawyer who argued on behalf of South Africa in the 'genocide' case against the state of Israel. The Northern Irish rapper's souped-up defence team can be considered as somewhat of an indicator of the gravity of the charges levelled against him which could carry a hefty term behind bars. Kneecap band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, leaves Westminster Magistrates' Court. Pic: James Veysey/REX/Shutterstock Four weeks ago, the Metropolitan Police announced that the 27-year-old performer had been charged under his real name Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh under the Terrorism Act on May 21 for 'displaying a flag in support of Hizballah, a proscribed organisation'. Subsequent to the charges, Kneecap announced that they would vehemently defend the charges. And with the conscription of the crack defence panel, it would appear that they intend to mount a robust defence in an effort to stave off jail time. The biggest hitter of the defence team is Guildford Four and Birmingham Six lawyer Gareth Peirce. Gareth Peirce (centre) at Westminster Magistrates' Court ahead of the court appearance of Kneecap band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh, who performs under the stage name Mo Chara. Pic:Ms Peirce is often described as one of the UK's leading human rights lawyers. She represented the Guildford Four as they fought to prove their wrongful convictions over the IRA's 1974 Guildford pub bombings. The case was made into a film in 'In the Name of the Father', with Emma Thompson playing the lawyer. Ms Peirce, who also went on to represent WikiLeaks founder Julian Assange during his fight against US extradition, is joined on Mo Chara's legal team by Belfast-based Darragh Mackin of Phoenix Law. Darragh Mackin (right) with Kneecap band member Liam Óg Ó hAnnaidh (left), who performs under the stage name Mo Chara, arriving at Westminster Magistrates' Court on Wednesday morning. Pic: Benjamin Cremel/AFP via Getty Images Belfast-based solicitor Mr Mackin hit the headlines when he took on the case of former Irish rugby international star Paddy Jackson in the infamous trial that gripped the nation both North and South of the border. A one time star of the rugby world in 2017 Mr Jackson was charged with rape for which he was subsequently tried and cleared with a not guilty verdict after a protracted legal case in 2018. Paddy Jackson outside court in Belfast in February 2018. Pic:And beefing up the star-studded defence bench are three highly accomplished female members of the U.K. bar association. Brenda Campbell KC, Jude Bunting KC and Blinne Ni Ghralaigh KC have been drafted into what is set to be a highly contentious case. Blinne Ní Ghrálaigh at the International Court of Justice (ICJ) in January 2024. Pic: Selman Aksunger/Anadolu via Getty Images Perhaps the most high-profile of the aforementioned legal bigwigs is Blinne Ni Ghralaigh KC, who last year was tasked by South Africa with presenting its 'genocide' case against Israel in the International Court of Human Rights.
Sunday World
7 days ago
- Entertainment
- Sunday World
Jim Sheridan tells how his mum suffered lifelong guilt over granny's childbirth death
The impact drove Sheridan to make his smash hit movie 'In the Name of the Father'. His mum blamed herself for his granny's death and it instilled in him a life long instinct to defend the falsely accused. This drove him to make his smash hit movie 'In the Name of the Father' starring Daniel Day Lewis about wrongly convicted IRA suspect Gerry Conlon and his father Giuseppe plus his latest film 'Re-creation' which deals with the Sophie Toscan du Plantier murder and the public pursuit of the main suspect, the late Ian Bailey. The former English journalist spent his whole life denying any involvement in the horrific killing and went to his grave proclaiming his innocence. Read more Re-creation premiered to positive reviews at the Tribeca Film Festival, in New York last week. In an interview with the Hollywood Reporter Sheridan said:' My mother blamed herself for killing her mother, who died in childbirth. "So it was inherent in me, in the womb from the f*cking start, this feeling for the wrongly accused. Jim Sheridan played the role of the jury foreman in 'Re-Creation' Today's News in 90 Seconds - June 14 2025 'I have a pre-natal sense of guilt. "Whenever that happens when I see somebody wrongly accused, I go nuts, you know, I can't deal with it.' Sheridan has been fascinated by the Sophie story for the last decade. He made the five part series on the case, Murder at the Cottage, for Sky but didn't feel it did the story justice. He does not believe Ian Bailey killed her and that there is little or not evidence against him. He also feels neither Sophie or Bailey received any justice. The new film is set in a fictionalised courtroom setting and recreates a trial based on all the facts of the case so far. Jim Sheridan on location filming Murder at the Cottage, his series about the death of Sophie Toscan Du Plantier. Photograph by Barbara McCarthy � Sky UK 2021 Most of the action is in the jury room just like the old Hollywood movie 12 Angry Men Made on a €2 million budget it stars Aidan Gillen, Vicky Krieps, John Connors, and Colm Meaney as Bailey. Sheridan himself also features as one of the 12 jurors. The film was shot and recorded between West Cork, Dublin and Luxembourg. He told the Hollywood Reporter he blends fiction, docudrama and emotion in a way that defies conventions. He said: 'I suppose I wanted to put into fiction what I couldn't put into documentary reality. I wanted to show the blur between the lines between documentary, reality and fiction." Co Director David Merriman said: "We're hopeful that at least in Ireland this film could start a conversation which will drive people, you know, to do the right thing. "To search for justice and find out who actually killed Sophie Toscan du Plantier, rather than just saying,' Oh, Ian Bailey didmit' and that's good for us because he's English so he's a villain."
Yahoo
11-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Yahoo
Jim Sheridan's ‘Re-creation' Puts One of Ireland's Most Troubling Murder Cases Back on Trial
For Jim Sheridan, the defense of the falsely accused isn't just a theme — it's a calling embedded deep in his DNA. 'My mother blamed herself for killing her mother, who died in childbirth,' says the Irish director and playwright. 'So it was inherent in me. In the womb, from the fucking start, this feeling for the wrongly accused.' That unwavering obsession, one that has powered the six-time Oscar nominee's career—from In the Name of the Father (1993), starring Daniel Day-Lewis as wrongly convicted IRA suspect Gerry Conlon, to his latest project Re-creation, which had its world premiere at the Tribeca Film Festival on Sunday—traces back to what Sheridan calls his 'pre-natal sense of guilt.' More from The Hollywood Reporter Regina Hall, Ice Spice Join New 'SpongeBob' Movie ITV Studios Names Tim Carter Managing Director, Unscripted, U.K. Disney+ Names Angela Jain Content Chief for EMEA Amid Slate Growth Push 'Whenever that happens,' he says, 'when I see somebody wrongly accused, it just flips a switch, and I go nuts, you know? I can't deal with it.' With Re-creation, Sheridan and co-director David Merriman explore one of Ireland's most haunting unsolved crimes: The 1996 murder of French film producer Sophie Toscan du Plantier, who was found brutally beaten outside her holiday home in Toormore, West Cork. The film constructs a fictionalized courtroom trial that never happened for a case that remains unresolved to this day. Sheridan already explored the case in a 5-part TV documentary, A Murder at the Cottage (2021), but came away with the sense he didn't do justice to the story. With Re-creation, he blends fiction, docudrama, and emotion in a way that defies genre conventions. 'I suppose, because I wanted to put into fiction what I couldn't put into documentary reality,' he explains. 'I wanted to show the blur between the lines between documentary, reality and fiction.' The hybrid formallowed Sheridan to address what he saw as failures in both the media and legal responses to du Plantier's murder—particularly the treatment of Ian Bailey, an English journalist and the primary suspect, who was arrested but never charged in Ireland, convicted in absentia in France, and who died still professing his innocence in 2024. Bailey's story came to global attention with the 2021 Netflix series Sophie: A Murder in West Cork, which Sheridan believes deeply misrepresented the truth. The My Left Foot and In America director has harsh words for the whole genre of true crime, which he sees as often driven by sensationalism and vendetta. 'The entire bloody True Crime genre is now based around In Cold Blood, Truman Capote. It's based around this relentless revenge agenda, and it's very uncomfortable to me,' he says. 'The actual greatest writer on true crime… is Thomas De Quincey (Confessions of an English Opium Eater). He was in the genre of the wrongly accused. That's a more empathetic position than this kind of avenging God bullshit.' Shot on a shoestring budget over three weeks — 'we wrote it in three weeks and filmed it three weeks later,' Sheridan says — the bulk of Re-creation unfolds in a single jury room, in homage to 12 Angry Men. The directors borrowed the claustrophobic intensity of Sidney Lumet's 1957 classic and fused it with the ambiguity of Justine Triet's Anatomy of a Fall to reflect skepticism toward both the judicial process and the media machine surrounding it. In an exclusive clip from the film (below), the jury tries to retrace Sophie's steps, and imagine her state of mind, on the night she was murdered. Sheridan himself plays the jury foreman. Vicky Krieps (Phantom Thread) appears as the quietly forceful juror number 8, who becomes a symbolic voice for Sophie in the film. The ensemble also includes The Commitments star Colm Meaney in a silent role as Ian Bailey, Game of Thrones actor Aidan Gillen as a defense lawyer, and Irish actor and filmmaker John Connors (The Black Guelph) as one of the jurors. Though exteriors were filmed on location in West Cork, most interiors were shot on soundstages in Dublin and in Luxembourg. The script, while foundational, was heavily improvised. 'We only had an outline,' says Sheridan. 'It was an attempt to cross the line between fiction and fact and to show that those lines have been irretrievably blurred.' Thanks to Sheridan's dogged efforts, the murder investigation into the du Plantier case is currently the subject of a cold case review by the Garda Serious Crime Team, the Irish investigative police. Sheridan and Merriman hope their film rekindles public interest and spurs legal action. 'We're hopeful that, at least in Ireland, that this film could start a conversation which will drive people to, you know, do the right thing,' Merriman says. 'To search for justice and find out who actually killed Sophie Toscan du Plantier, rather than just saying, 'Oh, Ian Bailey did it,' and that's good for us, because he's English, so he's a villain.' Best of The Hollywood Reporter 13 of Tom Cruise's Most Jaw-Dropping Stunts Hollywood Stars Who Are One Award Away From an EGOT 'The Goonies' Cast, Then and Now
Wales Online
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Wales Online
Is Charlie Simpson the singer behind new band PRESIDENT?
Is Charlie Simpson the singer behind new band PRESIDENT? After the group dropped the new song and music video for Fearless on June 5, fans of the Busted and Fightstar singer - and Contact Music - are convinced it's Charlie singing Charlie Simpson of Busted performs Charlie Simpson is rumoured to be the mystery singer behind new band PRESIDENT. After the group dropped the new song and music video for Fearless on June 5, fans of the Busted and Fightstar singer - and Contact Music - are convinced it's Charlie singing. However, at the end of the clip, the singer is unveiled - and it's not Charlie. This hasn't stopped fans speculating that it's still the Year 3000 hitmaker and he may be trolling us. Fearless follows the first track from the project, May's In the Name of the Father. Article continues below A press release notes: "Operating at the intersection of heavy music, electronic experimentation, and cinematic atmosphere, PRESIDENT doesn't conform to the traditional structures of genre or identity. Prioritising intent over image and shifting the spotlight away from those who have created this movement, firmly onto the music itself." PRESIDENT will make their debut at Download Festival on June 15, and fans will be hoping Charlie is unveiled as the singer. The rock band play the Dogtooth stage at 4.25pm. Article continues below Next month, on July 30, PRESIDENT will play to a sold-out crowd at London's The Garage.
Perth Now
10-06-2025
- Entertainment
- Perth Now
Is Charlie Simpson the singer behind new band PRESIDENT?
Charlie Simpson is rumoured to be the mystery singer behind new band PRESIDENT. After the group dropped the new song and music video for Fearless on June 5, fans of the Busted and Fightstar singer - and Contact Music - are convinced it's Charlie singing. However, at the end of the clip, the singer is unveiled - and it's not Charlie. This hasn't stopped fans speculating that it's still the Year 3000 hitmaker and he may be trolling us. Fearless follows the first track from the project, May's In the Name of the Father. A press release notes: "Operating at the intersection of heavy music, electronic experimentation, and cinematic atmosphere, PRESIDENT doesn't conform to the traditional structures of genre or identity. Prioritising intent over image and shifting the spotlight away from those who have created this movement, firmly onto the music itself." PRESIDENT will make their debut at Download Festival on June 15, and fans will be hoping Charlie is unveiled as the singer. The rock band play the Dogtooth stage at 4.25pm. Next month, on July 30, PRESIDENT will play to a sold-out crowd at London's The Garage.
