Uganda: Stella Nyanzi Bares Boobs protesting a prison sentence | General news

A Ugandan scholar who once called President Yoweri Museveni a "pair of bad" was sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Activists have condemned Stella Nyanzi's imprisonment for cyber-harbadment, saying it would undermine Uganda's commitment to freedom of expression.

She witnessed Friday's video-link conviction, against her wishes, and exposed her bads in protest.

She was acquitted on a second charge of "offensive communication".

But when it was announced on Thursday, she delivered a pbadionate speech in which she said she was disappointed with the verdict, prompting encouragement from her supporters.

"I had the intention of boring Yoweri Museveni, we are tired of his dictatorship," she said.

According to Reporters Without Borders, Uganda has a poor record on freedom of expression, saying that President Museveni "does not tolerate criticism".

Earlier this year, Ugandan authorities arrested BBC journalists who were investigating the illegal sale of drugs by the government.

Nyanzi, 44, is an accomplished researcher who has previously taught at Makerere University, one of the most prestigious institutions in East Africa.

She is known for her frequent anti-government Facebook postings, some of which take the form of poems and are often blasphemous.

"My presence in your court as a suspect and prisoner brings to light many facets of the dictatorship .I have exposed the rooting of the autocracy," she wrote in her last message, about the trial. "I refuse to be a mere spectator in the fight against the worst dictator."

Her convictions for cyber-harbadment relate to a Facebook of last year in which she wished that Mr. Museveni, aged 74, was burned by the "acid pus" in the birth cbad of his late mother .

Amnesty International's rights groups have called on the Ugandan authorities to overturn the verdict and release Nyanzi, who has been held in prison since November 2018.

"This verdict is outrageous and goes against Uganda's obligation to defend the right to freedom of expression (…) and bears witness to the depth of the law." Government intolerance of criticism, "said Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty East's director for East Africa.

Nyanzi has already been arrested for another post on Facebook, in which she described the president as "pair of bad". She is still on trial in this case.