TikToker faces 7-years in Prison for insulting President

Uganda sees itself becoming a treacherous terrain for freedom of speech as a 21-year-old TikToker, Emmanuel Nabugodi finds self in trouble after criticizing the President.

Nabugodi now faces up to 7-years in prison after pleading guilty to charges of “spreading hate speech” for a video where he staged a mock trial of President Yoweri Museveni.

The TikToker was caught calling for the President’s public flogging.

The court’s swift conviction has cast a chilling shadow over Uganda’s vibrant youth culture and online activism. Nabugodi is the fourth Ugandan in just two days to be charged with insulting Museveni or his family—a pattern that underscores the president’s intolerance of dissent in his nearly four-decade rule.

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The sentence recommendation by state prosecutor Paul Aheebwa Byamukama—seven years in the maximum-security Kigo prison—highlights the stakes of criticizing an 80-year-old leader whose grip on power has been cemented since 1986.

This crackdown isn’t an isolated incident. In July, another young TikToker received a six-year prison sentence for similar offenses.

The pattern extends beyond social media users; author Kakwenza Rukirabashaija faced arrest, torture, and eventual exile in Germany after penning criticisms of Museveni and his influential son Muhoozi Kainerugaba. Even satirical comedians have been jailed, only to see charges dropped after intense international pressure.

While critics argue these convictions are a gross violation of free speech, the government portrays them as necessary to curb “hate speech” and maintain order.

However, as Uganda’s youth become increasingly vocal online, the question looms: Can Museveni’s administration truly silence a generation with prison sentences?