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Symbol for some of the freedom of expression in Spain, the rapper Pablo Hasél He was arrested and jailed on Tuesday to serve a nine-month jail term for tweets against the monarchy and the security forces.
“They will never stop us, they will not bend us!”shouted Hasél with his fist high as the police escorted him out of the University of Lleida, in the northeastern region of Catalonia, where he had barricaded himself the day before with dozens of young people.
“Death to the fascist state,” he shouted moments before entering the police vehicle, amid boos from activists protesting in this city 150 km from Barcelona.
From there he was taken directly to the prison in that town, where he was immediately admitted, the police reported.
On Tuesday nights, demonstrations in their support took place in Barcelona and other cities in the country.
In Barcelona, some 1,700 protesters shouted “Libertat para Pablo” and “You are not alone”. Some hooded protesters burned garbage containers and threw objects at the police.
Sentenced to nine months in jail for tweets published between 2014 and 2016Hasél had until Friday to surrender voluntarily and begin serving his sentence for glorifying terrorism and insults to the Crown and the security forces.
In the messages, the rapper lashed out at the monarchy and called, for example, “Shit mercenaries” the police forces and accused them of torturing and murdering protesters and immigrants.
In 2014, the singer had already been sentenced to two years in prison for exalting terrorism, for songs where he called for the death of the royal family or extolled extreme groups responsible for violent actions. On that occasion, the sentence was not carried out.
“A false democracy”
In a telephone interview with AFP, Hasél had said on Friday that he would not turn himself in.
“They will have to come to kidnap me and it will also serve for the State to be portrayed for what it is: a false democracy,” he said defiantly.
On Monday, faced with rumors of an imminent arrest, he barricaded himself in the rectory building of the university in his hometown with dozens of young people who wanted to make his arrest more difficult.
The police officers arrived around 06:30 (05:30 GMT) and, despite finding some barricades and containers to prevent their access, they were able to evict the activists without “serious incidents,” said a spokesman.
About 200 artists, including the film director Pedro Almodóvar, the actor Javier Bardem and the singer-songwriter Joan Manuel Serrat, signed a manifesto in his defense.
Government discomfort
The scandal bothers the leftist government of the socialist Pedro Sánchez, whose spokesperson María Jesús Montero acknowledged the previous week that there was no “proportionality” in the rapper’s conviction.
Its vice president Carmen Calvo avoided commenting on the judicial decision on Tuesday, but reiterated the government’s willingness to review this type of crime so that they are not punished with jail terms.
“In the area of freedom of expression there must be a range of understanding and tolerance typical of a mature democracy like ours”
he said after the meeting of the Council of Ministers.
His minority partner in the coalition, the radical left Podemos, came out storming against the arrest.
“All those who boast of this ‘full democratic normality’ and consider themselves progressive should feel ashamed,” the formation tweeted.
The message evokes recent statements by its leader and vice president of the government, Pablo Iglesias, who assured that “There is no situation of full political and democratic normality in Spain”.
His comments, which generated discord within the government, referred to the situation of the nine Catalan leaders who are serving between 9 and 13 years in prison for the failed secession attempt in 2017.
Hasél’s case is reminiscent of the Spanish rapper Valtonyc, who in 2018 left for Belgium hours before entering prison to serve a sentence for insults to the king, extolling terrorism and threats in his songs.
From that country, which has so far rejected the extradition requested by Spain, the rapper assured AFP that he felt “shame” and “anger at seeing a colleague treated like this for doing what artists do, which is provoking.”
“Artists are now going to suffer the worst kind of censorship, which is self-censorship. There are many songs that are not going to be written, plays that will stop being written, all out of fear, ”he said.
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