Spain eyes repeal of blasphemy law amid debate over free expression

Spain's Socialist-led government said it had proposed legislation to stop religious groups seeking to prosecute people for blasphemy, amid a debate about how to balance freedom of speech against religious rights.

Patxi Lopez, the Socialist party's parliamentary spokesperson, said on Friday that the bill would repeal a law that imposes fines on people who mock religious beliefs.

He said the law "rarely achieves convictions and yet it is constantly used by extremist and fundamentalist organisations to persecute artists, activists (and) elected representatives, subjecting them to costly criminal proceedings".

About a third of European countries still had blasphemy laws in 2019, according to the Pew Research Centre, and in recent decades the issue has transcended religion to become a part of identity politics, said David Nash, a history professor and blasphemy expert at the University of Oxford.

The bill follows a lawsuit brought by Abogados Cristianos (Christian Lawyers) against comedienne Lalachus after she, in a state television appearance during New Year's Eve celebrations, brandished an image of Jesus on which the head of the cow mascot for a popular TV program had been superimposed.

Other prosecutions have sought to punish a woman who paraded through the streets with a giant vagina maquette and a politician who stripped down to her bra to protest against the presence of a chapel in a public university.

Lopez said the bill would also prohibit lawsuits based exclusively on evidence from news clippings and ban political parties or associated groups from launching or joining lawsuits.

The conservative opposition said this was an attempt to prevent private prosecutions that have ensnared Prime Minister Pedro Sanchez and his family in the past year.

Sanchez threatened to step down after his wife Begona Gomez was accused by anti-graft campaigners Manos Limpias (Clean Hands) in a lawsuit of using her profile to influence her business dealings. She has denied the accusations.

Most blasphemy cases in Spain are thrown out, although in 2018 a man was sentenced to six months in prison for interrupting a mass by shouting slogans supporting abortion.