A social media user in Kenya will spend two years in jail for posting unprintable insults against President Uhuru Kenyatta.
According to Daily nation Alan Wadi Okengo, alias Lieutenant Wadi, was accused of posting the messages on his Facebook account on December 18 and 19 at an unknown place within Kenya.
Wadi, 25, a political science student at Moi University, was arrested as he attempted to sneak out of the country through the Busia border on December 31.
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The charge against the university student stated that “the message he sent was calculated to to bring into contempt the lawful authority of the President of the Republic of Kenya.”
His plea was not considered when he was he was being sentenced even after pleading guilty to two charges of hate speech and demeaning authority of a public officer, contrary to Section 132 of the Penal Code.
In her ruling, Ms Kaguru said , “the offense is serious and a deterrent penalty is called for to serve as a warning to others abusing the social media forums.”
She proceeded to pronounce the sentence after saying that “he was convicted on his own plea of guilty.”
Wadi was accused of posting the two offensive messages when National Assembly passed the Security Laws (Amendment) Act No 19 of 2014 on December 18 and the following day when President Kenyatta signed the Bill to become law last year.
The first indictment was that he posted a hate speech message intended to stir up ethnic hatred between various Kenyan communities on the other by alleging a particular tribe should be deported to their home county.
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