Mexican President Wishes Release To Jailed Spanish Rapper Pablo Hasel

MEXICO CITY (UrduPoint News / Sputnik - 19th February, 2021) Mexican President Andres Manuel Lopez Obrador has expressed hope that Spain will release rapper Pablo Hasel, whose jailing on charges of slandering the monarchy and glorifying terrorism triggered protests across the kingdom.

"With our libertarian beliefs, there is no need to persecute or deprive someone of liberty. In the case of Spain, it is a rapper ... I wish they would get him out of jail. The rapper who writes songs and asks questions is being sent to jail for insulting the king. We do not have such a thing: everyone has the opportunity to speak out and demonstrate," Lopez Obrador told a press conference on Thursday, published on his Telegram channel.

The Catalan singer was sentenced in 2018 to nine months in prison for glorifying terrorism and slandering the Spanish monarchy on Twitter and through song lyrics. Hasel was supposed to voluntarily come to prison last Friday but he refused to do so. On Tuesday, the rapper was arrested.

The rapper's jailing caused a public outcry and debates about the freedom of speech, with people taking to the streets to rally in his support. Hundreds of artists, including Javier Bardem and Pedro Almodovar, have signed up to a petition against his imprisonment.