The arrest of rapper Pablo Hasel has reopened the debate …

In April 2014, Hasel was sentenced to two years in prison for songs in which he praised already dissolved terrorist organizations -ETA, Grapo and Terra Lliure- and called for the exploitation of the car of socialist leader Patxi López, calling to the shooting in the neck of the judges and regretted that a journalist kidnapped and injured in the leg during the transition survived the attack.

The judges understood that these expressions incurred the crime of “glorification of terrorism”, provided for by the Spanish Penal Code and sentenced him to two years in prison. The execution of the sentence was put on hold, as the rapper had no previous record, although he was warned that the suspension would be lifted if he was convicted again.

This happened four years later, when He sat in the dock again, this time for the same crime and for another offense against the Crown and the security forces. The reason was a series of 60 tweets written between 2014 and 2018 in which Hasel once again praised the already dissolved organizations and lashed out at the king and the police. “The exercise of freedom of expression and opinion presents barriers,” the sentence said.

By accumulating the precedent and depleting resources, the rapper was sent to jail. These sentences are in addition to others that have not yet been performed because they are not yet final. and that they refer to the attack by a journalist during a press conference on the occasion of the seizure of the University of Lleida, when he protested against the imprisonment of politicians convicted of Catalonia’s unilateral declaration of independence, and threats to a witness in a trial against a police officer accused of assaulting a minor.

Hasel’s imprisonment has sparked serious incidents in Barcelona, ​​Madrid, Valencia and other Spanish cities since last Wednesday due to protests called via social media by anti-establishment organizations. The detainees numbered in the dozens, as well as the wounded, including a young woman who lost one eye as a result of a rubber bullet.

The incidents once again highlighted the differences within the PSOE and United We Can coalition government after several leaders of that coalition, including the vice-president of the government Pablo Iglesias, asked the pardon of Hasel and considered him as a political prisoner. These statements by the secretary general of Podemos joined others that have recently also raised controversy, such as when he compared former Catalan president Carles Puigdemont, fleeing justice, with the Republican exiles after the civil war or when ‘he claimed that the Spaniards are not a full-fledged democracy.

That same Thursday, Podemos parliamentary spokesperson Pablo Echenique showed his support “for young anti-fascists who demand justice and freedom of expression in the streets”. and called for the purging of responsibility for the serious injuries suffered by the protester who lost her eye.

Podemos leaders even cited an alleged report from the NGO Freemuse which points out that Spain is the country in the world with the most artists imprisoned. However, this study is not published and the references in which the NGO is mentioned do not explain who the artists are or the reasons why they are in prison.

However, based on these data, theThe coalition introduced a bill last Tuesday that includes the repeal of legal figures for crimes of insulting the Crown or glorifying terrorism. He did so a few hours before the Justice Department, led by Socialist Fernando Grande-Marlaska, announced changes to the Penal Code to prevent cases like Pablo Hasel’s from happening again.

What was explained as a simple lack of coordination was in fact a further expression of the deep differences between the two formations shared by the Spanish Government with regard to the state of freedoms in this country.