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A Ugandan court has on Thursday sentenced a tiktoker, Edward Awebwa, 24, to six years imprisonment for insulting President Yoweri Museveni, First Lady Janet Museveni, and their son Muhoozi Kainerugaba in a TikTok video.
The charges according to the Uganda court included hate speech and spreading misleading and malicious information against the first family, as reported by BBC.
Awebwa had shared content alleging a rise in taxes under President Museveni’s administration.
Despite pleading guilty and asking for forgiveness, the presiding magistrate, Stella Maris Amabilis, noted Awebwa’s lack of remorse and the vulgar nature of his language.
Magistrate Amabilis said: “The accused deserves a punishment which will enable him to learn from his past so that next time he will respect the person of the president, the first lady, and the first son."
Awebwa received a six-year sentence for each of the four charges, to be served concurrently.
This case has drawn attention from rights groups, who frequently criticize Ugandan authorities for human rights violations and curbing freedom of expression.
President Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, signed a law against hate speech in 2022, which rights groups argue is designed to suppress online freedom of speech.
