Ugandan Activist, Stella Nyanzi, Found Guilty of Cyber Harassment Against President Museveni

Stella Nyanzi, the outspoken Ugandan activist and former research fellow at Makerere University's Institute for Social Research, was found guilty of cyber harassment against President Yoweri Museveni on Friday, after sharing a controversial birthday poem for the president last September.

Nyanzi was arrested in November of last year after sharing the poem on her Facebook page, part of which read: "I wish the acidic pus flooding Esiteri's (the president's mother) vaginal canal had burn up your unborn fetus. Burn you up as badly as you have corroded all morality and professionalism out of our public institutions in Uganda."

This is not the first time the activist has spoken out against the president. In 2017, she was jailed and suspended from her job at Makerere University after referring to the president as a "pair of buttocks."

She appeared in court in May on new charges of cyber harassment and "offensive communication." She was acquitted of the latter charge, but has been sentenced to 18 months in prison after being found guilty of the cyber harassment charge.

According to The Guardian, Nyanzi was given an opportunity to address the court in Kampala in an attempt to reduce here sentence, to which she responded: "Send me to Luzira [maximum security prison]. I am proud [of what] I told a dirty, delinquent dictator."

Adding: "I want to embolden the young people...I want them to use their voices and speak whatever words they want to speak."

Footage of Nyanzi's speech in court, shared on Twitter, show the activist expressing plans to continue addressing the president's actions no matter the consequences. "I will speak to dictators even if it means in the language of vagina," said Nyanzi.

The verdict has once again sparked concerns over censorship and freedom of expression in Uganda. "Stella Nyanzi has been criminalized solely for her creative flair of using metaphors and what may be considered insulting language to criticize President Museveni's leadership," says Amnesty International's Director for East Africa, the Horn and the Great Lakes Joan Nyanyuki of the verdict.

"The mere fact that forms of expression are considered insulting to a public figure is not sufficient ground to penalize anyone. Public officials, including those exercising the highest political authority, are legitimately subject to criticism and political opposition," she added.

Uganda is ranked 125 out of 180 in Reporters Without Borders' 2018 World Press Freedom Index. The suppression of freedom of expression in the county are underscored by cases like Nyanzi's as well as the targeting and harassment of Ugandan opposition leader and musician Bobi Wine.