Ugandan activist Stella Nyanzi today created drama in court where she stripped leaving her breasts exposed during her sentencing.
Ms Nyanzi was sentenced today for referring to President Yoweri Museveni as a “pair of buttocks”, which earned her 18 months in prison.
Stella Nyanzi @drstellanyanzi is on a screen rather than physically in the court room, but she just flashed her breasts on camera after shouting again and again “fuck you, fuck you” #FreeStellaNyanzi #PushforStellaNyanzi pic.twitter.com/Gwi6bgNzTy
— Alice McCool (@McCoolingtons) August 2, 2019
The former Makerere University lecturer attended the sentencing via a video link, and was acquitted of one of the charges of offensive communication. The charge was based on a poem she wrote which was considered vulgar by Ugandan authorities.
Read: Ugandan Police Arrest 19 Year Old Man For Annoying, Abusing President Museveni
Immediately after the judgement was pronounced, Nyanzi delivered a speech promising to annoy President Museveni for his dictatorship.
“I intended to annoy Yoweri Museveni. We are tired of his dictatorship,” she said.
“My presence in your court as a suspect and prisoner highlights multiple facets of dictatorship. I exposed the entrenchment of autocracy. I refuse to be a mere spectator in the struggle to oust the worst dictator,” she recently posted on Facebook.
Read: Milk Products From Uganda On Influx, Eating Up Market For Local Farmers
Nyanzi has been detained in jail since November 2018, and Amnesty International wants the ruling overturned saying that it kills the freedom of expression in Uganda.
“This verdict is outrageous and flies in the face of Uganda’s obligations to uphold the right to freedom of expression… and demonstrates the depths of the government’s intolerance of criticism,” said Amnesty’s East Africa Director Joan Nyanyuki as quoted by the BBC.
The sentencing has elicited reactions from Ugandan and Kenyan activists demanding her release.
Here are some reactions:-
Museveni court has jailed Stella Nyanzi but you cannot jail someone who is already free. Stella Nyanzi is artistically free, intellectually free and she is fighting to liberate Uganda from tyranny. She has used the court as a platform for political education. #FreeStellaNyanzi pic.twitter.com/asijhNEGx1
— The People’s Watchman (@bonifacemwangi) August 2, 2019
Dr. Stella Nyanzi is and will always be a great inspiration to me!
As Boniface Mwangi puts it, "You cannot jail someone who is free!" 🆓
Her spirit lives on in many East Africans! #FreeStellaNyanzi #StellaNyanzi— אליהו קוויסי 🇺🇸🇮🇱🇺🇦 (@elijah_Kaw) August 2, 2019
Stella nyanzi is a true definition of revolution.she never accepts musevenis dictatorship regime to rule her. She never gives up. #FreeStellaNyanzi
— The bandit (@EliasPkiach) August 2, 2019
Email your news TIPS to Editor@kahawatungu.com or WhatsApp +254707482874. You can also find us on Telegram through www.t.me/kahawatungu
Email your news TIPS to Editor@Kahawatungu.com — this is our only official communication channel
