They confirmed another sentence of more than two years against rapper Pablo Hasél, whose trial sparked violent protests in Spain

Lleida hearing confirmed this Thursday another two and a half year sentence for rapper Pablo Hasél for threatening a witness of a lawsuit against certain urban guards of this city, a sentence which could be added to the nine months of prison which he is serving for his messages against the Spanish company.

The court upheld the conviction, which convicted Hasel of crimes of obstructing justice, threats and ill-treatment at work, two days after entering prison to serve a nine-month sentence for extolling terrorism that the court national has ruled out suspending it.

The new conviction can still be appealed to the Supreme Court, and the justice of Lleida has not yet decided to force the rapper to serve this new sentence.

Hasel’s arrest has already sparked two nights of demonstrations with dozens of detaineesas well as strong debates on freedom of expression.

The first protests took place Tuesday night in Catalonia, hours after police arrested the 32-year-old rapper to begin serving a nine-month prison sentence.

This one had refused to enter voluntarily, and had barricaded himself in the university of his city, Lérida (Catalonia).

The protests spread to Madrid on Wednesday, where hundreds of protesters clashed with police in the central Puerta del Sol, shouting “Pablo Hasél, freedom!”

Hasél, who had a criminal record, entered prison for a crime of glorifying terrorism in tweets published between 2014 and 2016, which earned him a conviction in 2018.

In them he described King Juan Carlos I as a “mafioso” and a “thief”, accused the police of having killed and tortured migrants and demonstrators and mentioned as referring to people involved in terrorist crimes.

His case sparked a new debate over freedom of expression in Spain. Amnesty International called the sentence “disproportionate” and, before his imprisonment, some 200 personalities, including director Pedro Almodóvar and actor Javier Bardem, signed a manifesto in support of the rapper.

(With information from EFE and AFP)