A Ugandan court has handed a six-year prison sentence to 24-year-old Edward Awebwa for making derogatory remarks about President Yoweri Museveni, First Lady Janet Museveni, and their son Muhoozi Kainerugaba, the head of the military, in a TikTok video.
Awebwa faced charges of hate speech and disseminating “misleading and malicious” information against the first family. The court proceedings revealed that he had also claimed an imminent tax increase under President Museveni’s administration. Despite his guilty plea and request for forgiveness, the presiding magistrate, Stella Maris Amabilis, found him unremorseful. She highlighted the vulgar nature of the language used in the video, stating that Awebwa’s punishment should serve as a lesson in respecting the nation’s leaders.
Magistrate Amabilis sentenced Awebwa to six years for each of the four charges, to be served concurrently. She emphasized that the punishment was necessary for Awebwa to learn from his actions and to uphold respect for the president and his family.
Human rights organizations frequently criticize Ugandan authorities for suppressing freedom of expression. The sentencing of Awebwa follows a pattern of punitive actions against individuals critical of the government.
In 2022, author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija faced charges for “offensive communication” after criticizing President Museveni and his son on Twitter. He fled to Germany after alleging torture during his imprisonment. Similarly, activist and writer Stella Nyanzi, now in exile, was previously jailed for publishing a poem critical of Museveni.
President Museveni, who has been in power since 1986, signed a controversial law in 2022 aimed at curbing online speech, which rights groups argue is intended to stifle dissent. Although the constitutional court ruled a section of this law unconstitutional, the broader law under which Awebwa was charged remains contested.
Human rights lawyer Michael Aboneka criticized the law’s vagueness and suggested that the president and his family should anticipate criticism. He warned against the potential for widespread arrests of Ugandans for expressing dissent.
Unfortunately, the video is not about criticism of the First Family, it is open knackle vulgar abuses directly to the president and his family. If it was a message directed to someone of a lower status than the author of the message, it would have been considered bulling and hate speech.