The 2015 Freedom of Expression Arts Award-winner is rapper Mouad “El Haqed” Belghouat, has not only seen his songs censored and his album banned but has also been imprisoned in his homeland Morocco three times since 2011.
Belghouat’s music publicises widespread poverty and rails against endemic government corruption in Morocco, where he is banned from performing publicly.
“The Index award has shown Moroccan authorities that you can’t stop me. The more of an effort they make to silence me, the more my voice arrives everywhere.” — El Haqed
