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Professor Green insists giving evidence against a man who attacked him with a broken bottle wasn't "snitching".

The rapper was attacked in London in May 2009 by 25-year-old Anthony Jones, who claimed the star had been jostling his friend.

Professor Green says he had to appear as a witness otherwise he would have been arrested himself.

He said: "I nearly lost my life and I was in a position where I stood to lose everything if I don't go to court."

The hip hop artist was accused of "snitching" on various blogs and web forums including Twitter and Facebook.

But he said he was just standing up for himself.

"It wasn't like I was snitching because I wasn't taking anything off my shoulders and putting it on someone else's but at the same time there was something morally correct to do."

Professor Green, real name Stephen Manderson, needed special stitches after being stabbed in Shoreditch, East London, in May 2009.

He was left with a 15cm (6in) gash in his neck with the glass slicing almost to the bone.

The Hackney rapper, who won best hip hop act at this year's Mobos, has told Newsbeat he didn't press charges but was summonsed to court and made to give evidence.

"I've not had a clean past," he admitted. "I've been arrested. If I'm a rat, how come when I was looking at years I didn't implicate anybody?

"What I did wasn't removing myself of responsibility because I wasn't responsible for anything.

"It didn't make me feel good because of where I come from. I don't believe in snitching.

"If you've put yourself in a predicament then you should deal with that and you should be man enough to take the responsibility."

Anthony Jones was found guilty in October of GBH with intent for the attack and is due to be sentenced next year.