The arrest of rapper Pablo Hasél is not only causing violent mobilizations, but also cultural ones. More than 200 artists, including Pedro Almodóvar, Joan Manuel Serrat, Javier Bardem, Alba Flores, Fernando Trueba or Vetusta Morla, have signed a manifest in which they demand the release of the rapper Pablo Hasel, sentenced to prison for exalting terrorism and insults to the Crown.
“The Spanish State has come to head the list of countries that more artists have retaliated for the content of their songs,” denounces the letter sent to Efe, which “equates” the situation of freedoms in this country after the imprisonment of the musician ” with countries like Turkey or Morocco“.
Actors Alberto San Juan, Antonio de la Torre, Kiti Mánver, Luis Tosar, Paco León, Aitana Sánchez Gijón, Emma Suárez or Javier Gutiérrez are other names that subscribe this letter that warns about the “sword of Damocles that hangs over the head of all public figures” who dare “publicly criticize the performance of any of the actions of the State.”
“We are aware that, if we let Pablo be jailed, tomorrow they can go after any of us, like this until any dissident sighs are silenced”, underlines the statement also signed by musicians like Santiago Auserón, Brisa Fenoy, Coque Malla, Ismael Serrano, Pedro Guerra, Tote King, the members of Def Con Dos, Rayden, Tote King, Frank T o Ayax y Prok, Valtonyc, among others.
The long list of signatories also includes film directors What Montxo Armendáriz and Isaki Lacuesta, the journalist Javier Gallego or the illustrator and cartoonist Javier Royo.
The writing “demands” for all this the freedom of Hasel, “as well as that these types of crimes are expelled from the Penal Code that only curtail the Law, not only of freedom of expression, but of ideological and artistic freedom “.
[Quién es realmente Pablo Hasél: su familia, pasado y más]
The penalty for Hasel, upheld by the Supreme Court, adds to previous convictions of the rapper, such as the one imposed in 2014 also by the National Court to two years in prison for glorifying terrorism because of some lyrics of his songs about the Grapo, ETA or Terra Lliure, although that sentence was then suspended by the court.
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