Lira man jailed over hate speech video targeting President Museveni

LIRA - A 39-year-old man from Lira City has been sentenced to 14 months in prison after being found guilty of circulating a hate speech video targeting President Yoweri Museveni.

Fred Okuja, of Anai Oki Cell in Anai Ward, Lira City West Division, was arrested on October 1 after a video he recorded and shared on TikTok and other social media platforms attracted the attention of security and law enforcement agencies. 

The video contained remarks and imagery deemed to constitute hate speech and threats against the Head of State.

Prosecution told court that Okuja used his TikTok account to post content alleging that President Museveni had stopped the nomination of Uganda People’s Congress (UPC) president Jimmy Akena.

In the video, he claimed that he and other Ugandans “no longer feared death,” warned the President and his family to “remember what happened to Gaddafi and his children,” and stated that he and others had received firearms training.

Appearing before the Lira Chief Magistrate’s Court on Thursday, Okuja was convicted of cyber harassment under the Computer Misuse Act. Chief Magistrate Joe Fay Adoko sentenced him to one year and two months’ imprisonment.

Okuja was subsequently remanded to commence his sentence at Lira Main Prison.