Why Ugandan activist jailed for insulting President Museveni on Facebook rejected bail [Video]

Ugandan feminist activist, academic and Museveni critic, Stella Nyanzi, has rejected bail after spending nearly two weeks in a prison for allegedly insulting the president and his dead mother on Facebook.

Nyanzi was arrested on November 2 at the Makerere University during a march and was charged with cyber harassment and offensive communication for a poem she posted on Facebook on September 16 that criticized the president and his late mother.

In court on November 9 for her bail hearing, Nyanzi said: “I have written a lot about Mr Museveni and I don’t see where I faulted to say that his mother Esteri who is even a dead woman as we speak should kill him at birth looking at what he has done to the Ugandans your worship. I speak for many people and I plead not guilty on this count.”

Stella Nyanzi is not new to arrests as in April 2017, she was picked up for using abusive words against the president and first lady. She called President Museveni “a pair of buttocks” and insulted the First Lady Janet Museveni who she described as incompetent in her role as minister of education.

In a letter she wrote to a friend from detention which is making the rounds on social media, Nyanzi said: “Writing is a weapon … We shall fight their bullets and bribes with our prose and poetry. We shall defend ourselves with our pens and keyboards.”

Watch the videos below for more on why she rejected bail.