Tunisia rapper ‘afraid’ ahead of trial for insulting police

BEN AROUS, Tunisia, June 13, 2013 (AFP)

A Tunisian rapper who risks up to seven years in prison for insulting the police said he was “afraid” ahead of his trial on Thursday and criticised the authorities for not respecting freedom of expression.

“I am afraid because in a country like Tunisia the law is not applied, you  can expect anything,” said Ala Yaacoubi, better know by his nom de rap “Weld El 15.”

The musician was handed a two-year jail sentence in absentia in March for posting a rap video called “The Police are Dogs” on the Internet.

He is to be retried by the same court in the Tunis suburb of Ben Arous, following a decision to turn himself after three months on the run.

“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,” Yaacoubi said.

“There is no reason or legal basis for putting me in prison,” he added.

The rapper’s lawyer Ghazi Mrabet said his client was charged with conspiracy to commit violence against public officials, and insulting the police, offences punishable by up to seven years in prison.

“These crimes are unfounded, these articles in the penal code do not apply to artistic production,” he argued.

In the video (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6owW_Jv5ng4) 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.”

Before the March trial, 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.

Several cases related to freedom of expression have sparked outrage in Tunisia since the January 2011 revolution, and activists have often accused the ruling Islamist party Ennahda of seeking to muzzle them.

In April last year, two youths were jailed for seven and a half years for publishing caricatures of the Prophet Mohammed on Facebook.

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.