{"id":78933,"date":"2015-01-02T18:56:53","date_gmt":"2015-01-02T18:56:53","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/4cd.e16.myftpupload.com\/?p=78933"},"modified":"2015-01-02T19:00:09","modified_gmt":"2015-01-02T19:00:09","slug":"student-jailed-insulting-kenyan-president-facebook","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/citifmonline.com\/?p=78933","title":{"rendered":"Student jailed for ‘insulting’ Kenyan President on Facebook"},"content":{"rendered":"

A 25-year-old political science student at Moi University has been sentenced to a year in prison\u00a0for insulting Kenyan president Uhuru Kenyatta on Facebook.<\/p>\n

Alan Wadi Okengo, also known as Lieutenant Wadi, has also been told to\u00a0pay a fine of $2,200 (\u00a31,400) or serve a second year in jail.<\/p>\n

The posts were reportedly in opposition to the new security law, which was signed by the president<\/strong><\/span><\/a> a fortnight ago despite outcry from the opposition in Parliament<\/a><\/span>.<\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

[contextly_sidebar id=”sCzfH3qBXEeZMTpUKjUPPuETvk1Wm8CQ”]Mr. Okengo pleaded guilty to two charges of hate speech for using “unprintable insults” against the president and also for demeaning authority of a public officer.<\/p>\n

The charge against him stated that \u201cthe message he sent was calculated to to bring into contempt the lawful authority of the President of the Republic of Kenya.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Kenyan website, The Daily Nation\u00a0reported that Okengo was arrested when he tried to sneak out of the country on New Year Eve brought back to Nairobi CID headquarters where he was interrogated.<\/p>\n

He reportedly told the magistrate, Ann Kaguru, that he was prepared to\u00a0\u201capologised to President Kenyatta personally if he was not handed down a custodial sentence.\u201d<\/p>\n

\"DNCOURTHATESPEECH0201B\"<\/p>\n

However the magistrate, in announcing the sentence, said \u201cthe offence is serious and a deterrent penalty is called for to serve as a warning to others abusing the social media forums.\u201d<\/p>\n

Kenyatta faces huge opposition on new law<\/strong><\/p>\n

The controversial new security law has seen fierce\u00a0resistance from the opposition who say that\u00a0Kenya was turning into a \u201cpolice state\u201d and that the bill, if passed would further compromise the county\u2019s democratic beliefs.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe real target of this \u2018law\u2019 is not terrorism. Its aim is to reintroduce the police state and political hegemony,\u201d the\u00a0Coalition for Reforms and Democracy (CORD) said in a statement.<\/p>\n

The\u00a0new law\u00a0will allow security agencies in the country to \u201cdetain terror suspects for up to one year, to tap communications without court consent.\u201d<\/p>\n

Journalists in the country would also have to seek permission from the police before publishing any story on terrorism related issues, while\u00a0landlords and hotels\u00a0would be compelled to\u00a0provide security officers with information about their tenants and guests.<\/p>\n

The president has defended the law\u00a0arguing that the government needs more power in order to combat the Militant Islamist group al-Shabab who had intensified their attacks in the country in recent times, including two attacks in\u00a0December\u00a0which killed more than 60 people.<\/p>\n

 <\/p>\n

By: Edwin Kwakofi\/citifmonline.com\/Ghana.
\nFollow @eddiekkofi<\/a>
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