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In a cacophony of blasphemy and nudity, a Ugandan court found activist Stella Nyanzi guilty of "cyber-harbadment" for posting a poem on Facebook that severely criticized President Yoweri Museveni.
Nyanzi was sentenced Friday to 18 months in the women's prison of Luzira, a suburb of Kampala. She has already served nine months pending trial.
Judge Gladys Kamasanyu said that she had opted for a prison term rather than a fine, as Nyanzi showed no remorse and incidents of cyber-harbadment increased.
During the stormy hearing on Friday, Nyanzi, who appeared in front of the courtroom via a videotaped video of the maximum security prison where she was detained, repeatedly shouted profanity and flapped her bads, guards standing behind.
Supporters in the audience room responded to his ongoing acts of defiance with applause. Nyanzi said that she willingly accepted the punishment, adding that she was "born for that moment".
Controversy and support
Nyanzi has become an international celebrity and her case has become a rallying cry for freedom of expression activists, feminists and opponents of Uganda's long-time leader.
Nyanzi's supporters say the Ugandan government is trying to silence the president's criticism under the pretext of enforcing rules of good conduct online. Nevertheless, Nyanzi's outrageous poetry and scandalous behavior divided public opinion, with some even thinking that she was going too far.
"Many people think that his words should not be accepted," said Rosebell Kagumire, editor-in-chief of Africanfeminism.com, a platform for feminist writers on the continent. "So, Stella, in a way that defies morality, (the) moral fabric of society (and) what people see as moral … upsets all that and says," No, we can say these words and use them to shock, and use public insults against the people in power. & # 39; "
Kagumire said Nyanzi was charged under Uganda's 2011 Computer Misuse Act, a law meant to protect people from online harbadment and threats that was used to quell government critics. Kagumire said the law was challenged before the constitutional court.
"It kind of goes back to that aspect of sedition, that someone in power can jail people for offending them, which should be a protected speech," she said.
Nyanzi received a vote of support from Amnesty International.
"Stella Nyanzi has only been criminalized for her creative flair with the use of metaphors and her insulting language to criticize President Museveni's leadership," said Joan Nyanyuki, Amnesty International's director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes. "Civil servants, including those who exercise the highest political authority, are legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition."
Activism in progress
Nyanzi has long been fighting for change in Uganda. She has conducted gay advocacy campaigns and schoolgirl sanitary napkins. In 2017, the authorities arrested her for publishing such a critical post.
Some saw the Nyanzi protests as a form of "radical impoliteness," and Nyanzi herself described her role in a Ugandan tradition of promoting change with offensive remarks and shocking acts.
"I had planned to offend Yoweri Museveni Kaguta because he has offended us for more than 30 years," said Nyanzi during a rude legal proceeding.
Museveni, 74, has been running Uganda for 33 years. The country's constitution has recently been amended, allowing it to re-run after 75 years. Critics say his regime has been marked by a ruthless crackdown on opponents.
Nyanzi told the court Friday that her activism was in favor of her children, who, she said, should grow up in a better society.
"My children do not deserve a silent mother. I refuse to be silent in the face of oppression, facing the dictatorship, "she told the court. "I will sacrifice motherhood to any altar to sacrifice to … so that my children can make their voices heard against dictators."
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