Google – AFP, Kaouther Larbi (AFP), 13 June 2013
 |
Tunisian
rapper Ala Yaacoubi, better know by his rap name
"Weld El 15",
arrives for his trial on June 13, 2013 (AFP, Fethi Belaid)
|
BEN AROUS,
Tunisia — A Tunisian rapper was handed a two-year jail sentence on Thursday for
insulting the police in a song, with the court ruling sparking clashes between
his supporters and police.
Ala
Yaacoub, 25, better known by his rap name "Weld El 15", was retried
at the same court in a Tunis suburb that had convicted him in absentia in
March, after he handed himself him in to face justice.
As the
judge read out the verdict, shouts of protest erupted in the courtroom from his
supporters who were swiftly expelled by police.
Several
people were beaten outside the building, including Emine M'tiraoui, a
journalist with the news blog Nawaat, and at least three people arrested.
There was
evidence of tear gas outside the court house, but it was not clear who had
fired it, with the police and friends of the singer blaming each other.
 |
| "Weld El 15" (L), arrives for his trial alongside Tunisian rapper Emino (R), on June 13, 2013 (AFP, Fethi Belaid) |
"It is
particularly unfair that no text exists for suppressing a work of art."
Yaacoub,
who had been in hiding, was given a two-year jail sentence in March after
posting a rap video called "The Police are Dogs" on the Internet.
He later
turned himself in and was hoping for a more lenient sentence.
The lawyer
said he faced half a dozen charges, including conspiracy to commit violence
against public officials and insulting the police.
Sitting in
a cafe with friends before the trial opened on Thursday, Yaacoub had said he
was afraid and criticised the authorities for not respecting freedom of speech.
"I am
afraid because in a country like Tunisia the law is not applied; you can expect
anything," he told AFP.
"In
the song, I used the same terms that the police used to speak about the youth.
The police have to respect citizens if they want to be respected," Yaacoub
added.
In the
video the singer is heard saying: "Police, magistrates, I'm here to tell
you one thing, you dogs; I'll kill police instead of sheep; Give me a gun I'll
shoot them."
Ahead of
the trial in March, in which four others were handed prison sentences but later
released, the interior ministry said the song's lyrics were "unethical,
abusive and threatening" towards pubic officials.
Members of
the Tunisian opposition were quick to condemn Thursday's court ruling,
comparing it to the two-year suspended jail sentences given to 20 Islamists
involved in an attack on the US embassy last year, which have been strongly
criticised as excessively lenient.
"Weld
15 got two years and there were suspended sentences for the attack on the US
embassy, I feel bad for our youth at this critical time," MP Karima Souid
wrote on Twitter.
The secular
opposition frequently accuses the government led by Islamist party Ennahda of
manipulating the judiciary to muzzle free speech and of seeking to impose
Islamic values on Tunisian society.
Several
cases relating to the freedom of expression have sparked outrage in the North
African country since Ennahda's rise to power after the January 2011
revolution.
On
Wednesday, three European members of the radical women's protest group Femen
were jailed for four months for staging a topless demonstration in Tunis in
support of a detained Tunisian activist.
The judge
found them guilty of public indecency, but their supporters say they were
performing a legitimate protest and that women's rights were under attack.
Amnesty has called for their release, saying "imprisoning people for
expression is inherently disproportionate."
In April
2012, two youths were sentenced to seven and a half years for publishing
caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed on Facebook. One of them managed to escape
and was granted political asylum in France.
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