A Ugandan TikToker receives a six-year prison sentence for insulting President Yoweri Museveni on TikTok, highlighting Uganda’s strict stance on social media dissent and sparking human rights debates.
In a controversial ruling, a Ugandan court sentenced 24-year-old Edward Awebwa to six years in prison for insulting President Yoweri Museveni and his family on TikTok.
Charged with hate speech and spreading “misleading and malicious” information, Awebwa’s videos mocked the president and predicted tax hikes. Despite pleading guilty and asking for forgiveness, Magistrate Stella Maris Amabilis deemed him unremorseful and handed down a concurrent six-year sentence for each of the four charges.
This harsh punishment underscores Uganda’s crackdown on social media dissent, drawing criticism from human rights activists who have challenged the repressive Computer Misuse Act of 2022 in the Constitutional Court.
