In Spain, despite an overall positive assessment of media freedom from the European Commission in its latest rule of law report, a problematic decade-old law still hinders journalists’ ability to perform their work duties. 

In July, Prime Minister Pedro Sánchez announced his intention to pass a “democratic regeneration” reforms package, intended to enhance the national media landscape. Critically, these reforms fail to address the urgent need to repeal the infamous Citizen Security law, nicknamed the “Gag Law” by its critics since before its passing. This law, problematic in many aspects, continues to be a significant barrier to press freedom and must be repealed – not merely modified.

A decade of muzzled journalism in Spain

The so-called Ley Mordaza (“Gag Law”), formally known as the Organic Law 4/2015 on Citizen Security, was passed by the conservative Popular Party (PP) despite widespread opposition. The law grants extensive powers to law enforcement and imposes high fines for a range of acts, including resisting or disrespecting authorities, refusing to identify oneself to the authorities, and the unauthorized dissemination of images of police officers during operations.

From the outset, press freedom and free expression groups have criticised the law’s vague language for fear that its provisions could be used to target journalists, especially during the coverage of public protests or acts of civil disobedience. These fears have been borne out in practice, with numerous journalists fined, in particular photojournalists in relation to publishing images of police officers as part of their journalistic work, and creating a chilling effect.

Notable cases include El País photojournalist Albert García, who faced a prison sentence, then a fine, before being ultimately acquitted in November 2021. Overall, over the past decade, the Ley Mordaza has reportedly resulted in a total of nearly 300,000 sanctions.

Despite attempts at reforms, disagreements on key aspects of the law have prevented further discussion in Parliament. The Spanish Constitutional Court also upheld most of the law in 2021, except for a modification to Article 36.23 regarding the unauthorized use of police officers’ images – which since then is no longer a “grave” infraction.

Why new proposals miss the mark

The new proposed amendment by ruling parties PSOE and Sumar requires that the disseminated images present a “verifiable” risk to State security forces, which has to be detailed in a police report. While the government’s planned modification suggests that “the mere taking of images in public places and demonstrations, or their mere dissemination, will not constitute an infraction”, this reform is insufficient.

While this reform is a step in the right direction, the law continues to include overly broad provisions that can interfere with journalists’ ability to freely cover events in the public interest. This is particularly concerning as the Ley Mordaza enforces a disproportionate sanctioning system, which risks discouraging the exercise of fundamental rights such as freedom of expression and media freedom, protected by the Spanish Constitution.

The repeal of the “Gag Law” has been a long-time promise of Sánchez’s government, which is now time to enact. The MFRR members urge the Spanish government to fully repeal the Ley Mordaza to align its legislation with international standards. 

The bill conflicts with Spain’s commitments to human rights and press freedom as a member of the European Union. Our consortium stresses that only a complete repeal will ensure that the law does not continue to undermine the essential role of the press in a democratic society, as it has been for almost a decade.

This statement was coordinated by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries. 

The partners of the Media Freedom Rapid Response today expressed concerns over the terrorism investigation by the Spanish authorities of journalist Jesús Rodríguez Sellés. The journalist left Spain for Switzerland citing a lack of guarantees for practicing his profession and the threat of arbitrary arrest in Spain.

Rodríguez Sellés is an award-winning Catalan journalist working for La Directa. In November 2023, after four years of judicial investigation he was named an official suspect of terrorism offenses for allegedly assisting in the organisation of the Tsunami Democrátic protests in October 2019. The movement was a reaction to a decision by the Spanish National High Court jailing Catalan separatist leaders over their roles in the failed bid to split from Spain in 2017.

The protests saw violence erupting in Barcelona, where protesters were accused of attacking police officers and vandalism, while the police used batons, teargas and rubber bullets against the protesters, including journalists, leading to several injuries.

On April 9, 2024, the High Court ordered Rodríguez Sellés to provide his formal address, so that he could be summoned to testify when the judge requested it. Two days later, Rodríguez Sellés announced that he had left Spain for Switzerland in order to ‘preserve his freedom’ and to be able to continue his work as a journalist. He added that he was being persecuted for ‘doing his job’.

Rodríguez Sellés is closely associated with the Catalan independence movement. He is also a prominent and respected journalist who has, among other things, exposed police crimes, abuse of power and persecution of dissent.

Rodríguez Sellés took the police to court following his assault in 2016 by riot police, leading to the conviction of one officer to a two-year prison term. The officer’s appeal is pending before the Spanish Supreme Court. Rodríguez Sellés is also pursuing a complaint against two other officers for committing perjury during the initial trial.

The investigation into the 2019 demonstrations had been ongoing for four years with no visible progress. Spanish authorities finally announced formal suspects two days after the announcement of a publicly divisive amnesty plan for separatist leaders.

The charges against Rodríguez Sellés are not formally related to his journalism. However, we are concerned that, given his record of exposing police crimes that have embarrassed the state, and in view of the political context in which the investigation was launched as well as the extreme and disproportionate nature of the charges in question criminalising dissent under the guise of anti-terrorist legislation, this investigation may be politically motivated and may also be an effort to restrict his journalism.

We therefore call on the Spanish authorities to immediately pause the investigation and to conduct a thorough and credible review to ensure compliance with fundamental human rights, including freedom of expression, and proportionality. MFRR partners will continue to follow this investigation closely.

This statement was coordinated by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and candidate countries. 

On 4 February 2022, multinational energy company Iberdrola filed a lawsuit at the Court of First Instance number 4 of Bilbao against Titania, the publisher of El Confidencial, for its coverage of the relations between the company and a convicted former police commissioner. El Confidencial is accused of having carried out “an authentic smear campaign and media harassment” against the company and its president. The company said the reporting was an “illegitimate interference in the right to honour”, which had “very serious reputational damage to the company”. The company quantifies the alleged damage caused at €17,600,000 and said it reserves the right to adjust this figure upwards if new defamatory information is published. Our organisations strongly condemn these extortionate demands and see the lawsuit as a retaliatory attempt to silence the newspaper and its reporting on an important matter of public interest.

Since October 2019, El Confidencial, which has 200 staff members and around 22 million unique monthly visitors, has published a series of audio clips and documents revealing Iberdrola’s payments to the retired police commissioner José Manuel Villarejo, who became the centre of a national scandal after it was revealed he had spied on and blackmailed dozens of prominent Spanish businesspeople, politicians, judges, activists, and unions for over 20 years. The recordings and published documentation by El Confidencial referred to covert operations financed by the electricity company, including espionage of political leaders, maneuvers against environmentalists, and surveillance of union leaders by the company itself.

After the publication of the articles by El Confidencial, several current and former directors from Iberdrola were marked as ‘under investigation’ by the National High Court, including its executive president, Ignacio Sánchez Galán, and the group’s subsidiary, Iberdrola Renovables.

According to Iberdrola, El Confidencial has published “too much news” about the Villarejo case and disapproves of the fact that some news items were closed exclusively to subscribers, which would multiply the reputational damage of this information, since it would “prevent most readers from going past the headline and accessing the nuances included in the text of the news”. ARTICLE 19 has documented the phenomenon of SLAPPs against journalists in Spain in a recent SLAPPs report and identified a number of recommendations for reform of the legal framework that are currently misused to threaten journalists.

MFRR partners see this legal action by a large private company as a serious SLAPP lawsuit aimed at intimidating and silencing an independent media outlet in Spain. We join national journalist organisations such as the Federation of Associations of Journalists of Spain (FAPE), the Association of Journalists of Economic Information (APIE), the Association of Investigative Journalists (API) and the Plataforma por la libertad de información (PLI) in expressing solidarity and support to the newspaper and its journalists. The MFRR partners also condemn the extortionate demand for damages, which could bankrupt the newspaper should it lose the case and in the meanwhile generates exhorbitant financial and psychological pressure to the staff.

We therefore see this lawsuit as a clear example of the urgent need for SLAPP regulations on EU and national levels, and for a reform of the current legislation on protection of honour and reputation in Spain. We call upon Iberdrola to swiftly withdraw this absurd lawsuit. We encourage judges to follow the rules of good faith under Article 247 of the Spanish Civil Procedure Law 1/2000 to ensure that journalists and media outlets do not face unnecessary civil proceedings as a result of ill-founded or meritless claims, brought with the sole aim of silencing or intimidating the exercise of freedom of expression.

This statement was coordinated by the Media Freedom Rapid Response (MFRR), a Europe-wide mechanism which tracks, monitors and responds to violations of press and media freedom in EU Member States and Candidate Countries.