Spanish rapper Valtònyc, originally from Mallorca, was sentenced to three and a half years in jail after being convicted of slander, Lèse-majesté, and glorifying terrorism in his lyrics. A day before his arrest in May 2018 he fled to Belgium. Recently, another Spanish rapper, Pablo Hasél, was arrested while also practicing his freedom of speech. Valtònyc looks back on his sentence: "It seemed like a joke – almost four years in jail for a song. But it wasn’t: there are 18 rappers in Spain facing jail for similar charges".

Five nights of protests in Barcelona have followed after the arrest of rapper Pablo Hasél, convicted of criticizing the country's monarchy and glorifying a separatist group in a series of tweets, Reuters reports. Thousands took to the streets Saturday night, protesting Hasél's conviction and nine-month sentence. Protests turned violent on Saturday with protesters throwing objects at police, setting fires and looting and vandalizing many luxury shops.

Anti-riot police have arrested Spanish rapper Pablo Hasél who barricaded himself with dozens of his supporters in a university, BBC reports. The rapper was escorted by riot police out of Lleida University's rectorate building, in the northeastern Catalonia region, where he and over 50 supporters had locked themselves in since mid-Monday. Hasél has been sentenced to 9 months in prison for glorifying terrorism and slandering the crown and state institutions over tweets and lyrics that attacked the monarchy and police.

Spanish rapper Pablo Hasél has been ordered to report to prison to serve nine months and one day, for glorifying terrorism and insulting the Crown and state institutions in a series of tweets. After over 200 artists – including the filmmaker Pedro Almodóvar – signed a petition defending the rapper, the Spanish government announced that it is planning a reform to the criminal code that would eliminate prison terms for crimes involving freedom of expression, el Pais reports.