Ugandan political activist, academic and feminist Dr. Stella Nyanzi was arrested last week because of her Facebook posts from two dates in September, which police claimed were “offensive.”
Dr. Nyanzi has a large social media following, and is known for her blunt and personal posts targeting President Yoweri Museveni.
In March last year, she was suspended indefinitely by the Makerere Institute for Social Research, where she was a research fellow, after a Facebook post in which she said the First Lady and Education Minister Janet Museveni had “incompetence to run the ministry.”
She was arrested in April and charged with cyber harassment and offensive communication, and was jailed for two weeks before being released on bail.
She is still fighting those earlier charges.
Last month, a court ruled that Makerere should reinstate Dr. Nyanzi, but the institute has yet to do so.
If found guilty of the current charges, Dr. Nyanzi could face a fine of up to $128, or a year in jail, or both.
Sources: Eve (Kenya), The Nation (Kenya), The Observer (Uganda)