A Ugandan court has found a 21-year-old content creator guilty of calling for the public flogging of President Yoweri Museveni on TikTok, according to a state prosecutor.
Emmanuel Nabugodi, who made a video depicting a mock trial of Museveni, faces up to seven years in prison for 'spreading hate speech' against the president. He pleaded guilty and was remanded in custody at Kigo maximum security prison near Kampala until his sentencing on November 18.
State attorney Paul Aheebwa Byamukama said prosecutors are seeking a seven-year sentence. Nabugodi is the fourth Ugandan in recent days to be remanded for insulting the president and his family.
In July, another 21-year-old TikToker received a six-year prison sentence for insulting Museveni, who has governed Uganda since 1986. Award-winning author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija was arrested in 2021 and charged with insulting Museveni and his son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, who many Ugandans believe is positioning himself to succeed his father.
Rukirabashaija, who won the 2021 PEN Pinter Prize for an International Writer of Courage, said he was tortured during his detention and fled to Germany. In 2020, four members of a comedy troupe were jailed for a video sarcastically calling on Ugandans to pray for their leaders, including Museveni.
Uganda ranks 128 out of 180 countries on the Reporters without Borders press freedom index.
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