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posted by on Thursday April 13 2017, @02:49PM   Printer-friendly
from the never-shame-the-government dept.

A Ugandan activist has been charged with computer-related crimes for criticizing the government on Facebook:

Stella Nyanzi, one of Uganda's most controversial academics and activists, appeared in court Monday, after being arrested and charged Friday with cyber harassment and the misuse of a computer, for "shaming" the government.

Nyanzi's latest run-in with the 31-year-old regime of President Yoweri Museveni began with a fight for free sanitary pads for school-age girls. "She's the one person who has dared to come out strongly in the country and say what many have feared to say many, many times," said Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera, an LGBT rights activist, shortly after leaving the court house.

During the 2016 elections, Museveni and wife, Janet, promised to provide free pads to poor young girls across the country. [...] The elections passed; Museveni won. Earlier this year, Janet Museveni told the country's parliament the promise of free sanitary pads wasn't going to happen because the country was facing a tough economic climate. Nyanzi was furious. She decided if the government wasn't going to do it, she would give poor girls sanitary pads. So she started a crowdfunding campaign and she also unleashed a torrent of criticism toward Museveni, his wife and his supporters. Her criticisms flowed into her Facebook timeline. They were always pointed and sometimes profane. In one of them, she writes that she refuses to call the president's wife "Mama Janet," as most Ugandas do[.]


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  • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday April 13 2017, @04:46PM (2 children)

    by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 13 2017, @04:46PM (#493487) Journal

    Hey, guess what state I live in and why I may be a super-active campaigner for ending political districting in the US.

    Starting Score:    1  point
    Karma-Bonus Modifier   +1  

    Total Score:   2  
  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Thursday April 13 2017, @07:34PM (1 child)

    by bob_super (1357) on Thursday April 13 2017, @07:34PM (#493583)

    How's it working for you?

    > super-active campaigner

    Is that "super-" in hours of hard community proselytizing, or in dollars of lobbying?

    • (Score: 2) by ikanreed on Thursday April 13 2017, @08:01PM

      by ikanreed (3164) Subscriber Badge on Thursday April 13 2017, @08:01PM (#493604) Journal

      No money, a fair amount of door-to-door.