By Canadian Press

Sweden wants extension of rapper’s detention after fight

Jul 19, 2019 | 4:55 AM

COPENHAGEN — U.S. rapper A$AP Rocky should be held for another week in pre-trial detention to allow police to finish investigating a June 30 fight in downtown Stockholm, a prosecutor said Friday.

Daniel Suneson has asked Stockholm’s District Court to hold A$AP Rocky — the stage name of Rakim Mayers — until July 25. A ruling is expected later Friday.

Suneson said police “have worked intensively” with the preliminary investigation but need more time to complete their probe.

On June 5, Mayers who was in Sweden to perform at a music festival, and his body guards were ordered held for two weeks after being detained two days earlier. Videos published on social media, show a person being violently thrown onto the ground by Mayers. It was not clear who else was involved. A defence lawyer has said it was self-defence.

The platinum-selling, Grammy-nominated artist has seen many celebrities such as Kim Kardashian West, her husband Kanye West and Justin Bieber come to his support since his arrest.

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Soon after the news of his arrest broke, the movement #JusticeForRocky pushed for the rapper’s release. A petition calling for his release has also garnered half a million signatures. And Adriano Espaillat, a New York Democrat in the House of Representatives, is pushing for the release of the rapper, who was born in the Harlem neighbourhood of New York City.

“Everyone deserves to be treated equally and A$AP Rocky’s rights continue to be violated. It is not a fair process,” the congressman earlier said in a statement to The Associated Press.

Espaillat said he has been in contact with the State Department and the U.S. Embassy in Sweden and wants everyone to continue showing their support to help us in this process of getting justice for Rocky.”

Kim Kardashian West, the reality TV star, and her husband, rapper and record producer Kanye West have lobbied President Donald Trump, U.S. Secretary of State Mike Pompeo and the president’s son-in-law, Jared Kushner in support of A$AP Rocky.

Kardashian West thanked the president and senior members of his administration, saying on Twitter that their “commitment to justice reform is so appreciated.”

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This story has been corrected to state in sixth paragraph that Harlem is a neighbourhood not a borough of New York City.

The Associated Press