Punch and JIHADI? Two puppeteers held for ‘praising terrorism’ during performance
A COURT has ordered the detention of two puppeteers for allegedly praising terrorism during a performance in Madrid.
The show reportedly featured the stabbing of a nun and police beatings
In a statement by Judge Ismael Moreno, the court said Alfonso Lazaro de la Fuente and Raul Garcia Perez had staged a play featuring the "hanging of an effigy of a judge, the stabbing of a nun with a crucifix and several police beatings”.
It also said the puppets held up a sign saying "Up with ETA”, a reference to the banned Basque separatist group.
The show had been commissioned as part of Madrid's Carnival celebrations.
Praising terrorism has been a crime in Spain since 1995.
The two puppeteers are now being held at the order of a Spanish court
ETA is considered a terrorist organisation by Spain, the US and the European Union.
The group has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s in a campaign for an independent Basque homeland in northern Spain and south-western France.
In 2009 ETA claimed responsibility for a series of attacks on Spain including a car bomb in Madrid.
ETA has killed more than 825 people since the late 1960s
They also claimed responsibility for an assault on offices of Spain's Socialist party in the small Basque town of Lazkao as well as another car bomb outside the house of a Basque businessman in the town of Amorebieta on March 26.
The other two attacks it acknowledged were against telecommunications relay towers.