Man jailed for insulting President Magufuli on Facebook

Civil society organizations in Tanzanian recently decried the enactment of 'unfriendly laws'.

A Tanzanian man has been jailed after being found guilty of insulting President John Magufuli on social media. Fadhili Silwimba was handed a three-year jail term or a fine of Tsh 5 million (Sh231,000) over a September 7, 2019, Facebook post.

In his ruling, resident magistrate Kassim Mkwawa said that he’d found Siwimba guilty of contravening Section 23 of Tanzania’s cyber laws enacted in 2015. The cyberbullying law states that: “A person shall not initiate or send any electronic communication using a computer system to another person with intent to coerce, intimidate, harass or cause emotional distress. A person who contravenes subsection commits an offence and is liable on conviction to a fine of not less than five million shillings or to imprisonment for a term of not less than three years or to both.”