Spanish rapper barricades himself inside university to avoid prison

Pablo Hasel said his case was an "attack against freedom of expression"

Credit: AFP

A Catalan rapper due to begin a nine-month prison sentence for offensive song lyrics and posts on Twitter has barricaded himself inside a university building to avoid jail.  

Pablo Rivadula, who calls himself Pablo Hasel, on Monday challenged the police to come and get him after refusing to present himself to prison last Friday. 

The radical Left-wing rapper announced on social media that he and around 20 supporters had shut themselves in a room inside Lleida University’s Rectorate, saying police “will have to smash their way in if they want to arrest and imprison me”.

His case has highlighted Spain’s strict laws curtailing freedom of expression, with celebrities calling for his sentence to be quashed including film director Pedro Amodóvar and actor Javier Bardem. 

The 32-year-old was originally handed a two-year sentence by Spain’s National Court for the crimes of insulting the monarchy, glorifying terrorism and insulting the police in a song and a series of posts on his Twitter feed.

The sentence was reduced to nine months on appeal last year by Spain’s Supreme Court, and he received an order to report to prison as he has a previous suspended two-year conviction for similar offences.

Now, as a reoffender, Mr Rivadulla could end up spending several years behind bars as he has several other cases pending a final verdict.

Among the political expressions that led to his latest conviction was a tribute to a deceased communist terrorist and criticising Spain’s former king, Juan Carlos, for selling arms to and “whoring with” Saudi royals.

“You don’t need to agree with my opinions to see that this is an attack against freedom of expression,” the rapper said at a press conference.

Last week Spain’s government announced that it would be reviewing the statute book to ensure that only expressions that incite violence would continue to be offences.

Mr Rivadulla would become the first rapper to be jailed in Spain for his lyrics after another radical rhymer, Valtonyc, fled to Belgium after being sentenced to three and half years for similar offences. Belgium has so far refused to extradite him.  

A Twitter user called Cassandra Vera was convicted but later acquitted on appeal in 2018 of glorifying terrorism after she made jokes about basque terrorist group the ETA’s 1973 assassination of General Franco’s number two, Admiral Luis Carrero Blanco.