Dr Stella Nyanzi in the dock at Buganda Road Court on November 7, 2018.
She has been jailed for 18 months. FILE PHOTO | DAILY MONITOR
Ugandan activist Stella Nyanzi has been sentenced to 18 months
in prison after she was found guilty
of cyber harassment for a Facebook post that insulted the late mother of President Yoweri Museveni.
of cyber harassment for a Facebook post that insulted the late mother of President Yoweri Museveni.
She attended Friday's sentencing via video link, against her will, and exposed her breasts in protest.
Activists condemned the court's decision, saying that it goes against Uganda's obligation to allow freedom of expression.
Nyanzi's
conviction relates to a post she published on Facebook in September
2018, in which she made several references to the president's late
mother's private parts and said she wished that she had died at birth.
CYBER HARASSMENT
She was facing two charges of cyber harassment and offensive communication, but was not found guilty of the latter.
On Thursday, after the guilty verdict was read out, Nyanzi
responded with a passionate speech, accompanied by cheers from her
supporters and other activists.
She later said she
would have loved to have been found guilty of offensive communication
because she had indeed planned to offend the president.
Nyanzi
has previously been arrested for another Facebook post, in which she
referred to the president as a "pair of buttocks". She is still on trial
in that case.
Nyanzi is an
accomplished social researcher and academic, and, before her troubles
began, was a lecturer at the country's oldest public university,
Makerere.
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