Spanish court rejects rapper's freedom of speech argument
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Spain's Supreme Court has upheld the conviction of a rapper who argued that his lyrics praising terror groups were protected by freedom of expression laws.
The court ruled Tuesday that Jose Miguel Arenas Beltran, a rapper best known as Valtonyc, distributed songs online that praised terrorism, insulted the Spanish royal family and threatened a Spanish politician with violence.
It rejected Beltran's argument that he was expressing his right to free speech and that rap songs aim to be provocative.
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The court ruled that Spanish law prohibited such expressions of opinion, and upheld the National Court's sentence of three and a half years in prison.
The rapper is not well-known but his case has brought a debate in Spain about freedom of speech.