PEN welcomes the news that prominent feminist academic and activist Dr Stella Nyanzi was released on bail on 10 May, but continues to call for the charges against her to be dropped immediately and unconditionally, as she should never have been arrested in the first place.
Dr Nyanzi was arrested on 7 April 2017 and charged three days later with cyber harassment and offensive communication, for her Facebook posts criticizing Uganda’s President Yoweri Museveni, in particular one where she referred to the president as a ‘pair of buttocks.’ She was detained for 33 days before she was granted bail. Dr Nyanzi faces her next court hearing on 25 May 2017.
PEN believes Dr Nyanzi has been charged for peacefully expressing her views and calls on the Ugandan authorities to uphold freedom of expression and allow Dr Nyanzi to continue her activism unabated by dropping the charges against her.
For further information, please visit the PEN International website.
TAKE ACTION
Spread the word
Share details of Dr Nyanzi’s case on Facebook, Twitter and other social media. #FreeStellaNyanzi
Send a message of support
If you would like to send a message of support to Dr Nyanzi please do so via lianna.merner@pen-international.org
Write to the authorities
Please send appeals urging the Ugandan authorities to:
- Immediately and unconditionally drop the charges against Dr. Stella Nyanzi;
- Comply with their obligations to protect freedom of expression as protected in the Ugandan Constitution and as a state party to the International Covenant on Civil and Political Rights (ICCPR)
Please write to:
Mr Mike Chibita
Director of Public Prosecutions
Directorate of Public Prosecutions
Workers House, Plot 1 Pilkington Road
Kampala, Uganda
mike.chibita@dpp.go.ug
Major General (rtd) Kahinda Otafiire
Minister of Justice and Constitutional Affairs
Bauman House, Plot 5, Parliament Avenue
P. O. Box 7183
Kampala, Uganda
Fax: +25641254829
Email: info@justice.go.ug
Please copy your appeals to the Embassy of Uganda in your country. A list of embassies can be found here
***Please contact PEN if sending appeals after 25 May 2017***