Pablo Hasél locks himself in in the rectorate of the Universitat de Lleida to avoid imprisonment

BarcelonaThe rapper Pablo Hasél has locked himself in, along with several people, in the rectorate of the University of Lleida to avoid his imprisonment. "I'm locked in, along with others in solidarity, at the University of Lleida. They'll have to come and bust it to arrest and imprison me," the rapper said on Twitter. On Friday the deadline for him to voluntarily enter a prison, after the National Court has sentenced him to nine months in prison for crimes of glorification of terrorism and insult to the Crown

"There has been a lot of solidarity, but still not enough to stop this serious attack on our freedoms. The great importance of the numerous demonstrations has led the Spanish government to promise to reform the Penal Code, in an attempt to demobilise and curb solidarity in the face of the logical outrage generated by this level of repression. But without more pressure in the streets, it will all go up in smoke," Hasel said in a statement on Friday.

Change of criteria of the Prosecutor's Office

The Prosecutor's Office of Spain's High Court has opposed the appeal that Hasél's defence had presented to avoid his imprisonment. According to the rapper's support platform, the prosecutor's office has changed its criteria from the initial report, where it requested the suspension of the prison sentence. The platform considers that it is no coincidence this "sudden change" on February 11 and which was only notified once the Catalan elections had already been held.

The rapper's defence made a last attempt to free Hasél from the prison sentence and presented an appeal on February 4 alleging the great "social alarm" that the sentence has generated. A few days earlier, more than 200 artists had signed a manifesto calling for his release, and the justice ministry announced that crimes related to "excesses in the exercise of freedom of expression" would be reviewed. At the same time, Unidas Podemos registered a bill in Congress proposing to repeal the offences in the Penal Code linked to freedom of expression: from the glorification of terrorism to the crime of insulting the Crown, including insulting institutions and religious feelings.