Spanish counter-terror law ‘used to crush satire,’ says Amnesty International

The increased use by Spanish courts of a “draconian law” banning the glorification of terrorism to prosecute artists, journalists and ordinary citizens “is part of a sustained attack on freedom of expression,” according to a new report by Amnesty International.

The number of people charged under Article 578 of the Spanish criminal code went up from three in 2011 to 39 in 2017, the report found. In the past two years alone, nearly 70 people have been convicted under the law, with those found guilty facing fines, bans from working in the public sector and even prison sentences.

The charity states that the exponential increase of cases “has had a profoundly chilling effect, creating an environment in which people are increasingly afraid to express alternative views, or make controversial jokes.”

The report includes the case of 12 rappers from the ‘La Insurgencia’ collective, who were each sentenced to more than two years in prison and banned from working in the public sector for lyrics deemed to “glorify” the armed Marxist group GRAPO. One of the band’s members recently attended a press conference in the Catalan city of Sabadell, in which other Hip Hop artists convicted for similar offenses claimed that their prosecution was an attack on freedom of expression.