A-Level Student Jailed Six Months For Mocking President On TikTok In Uganda, Misses Final Exams

Ugandan Student Jailed For TikTok Mockery Of President

A 20-year-old Ugandan student has been sentenced to six months in prison for mocking the country’s president on TikTok, causing him to miss his crucial final school exams. Edison Ssemugenyi was convicted on Tuesday, 9 December 2025, after pleading guilty to publishing malicious information about President Yoweri Museveni and his son, the Chief of Defence Forces, General Muhoozi Kainerugaba.

The Nakawa Chief Magistrate’s Court heard that Ssemugenyi used his TikTok account, @iam_edson, between August and November 2025 to spread what the state called false and harmful information. According to the prosecution, the Senior Six student alleged that President Museveni was ill and bedridden, and made abusive statements directed at Gen. Muhoozi.

“He Needs To Be Punished”

While passing sentence, Chief Magistrate Esther Nyadoi acknowledged the student’s youth and his guilty plea but stated the offences were serious.

“He has not wasted court’s time by pleading guilty; he is also a young man who was in senior six and doing his final exams when he was arrested in this matter, and I believe he can change,” Magistrate Nyadoi said. She continued, “For that to happen, he needs to be punished, though not with a deterrent punishment as prayed for by the State because of what I have explained above.”

The magistrate noted that the law provided for an option of a fine but deemed it unsuitable. She ruled that the individuals targeted, by virtue of their positions, deserved respect rather than being subject to malicious information.

Exams Interrupted, Future On Hold

The court heard that Ssemugenyi was arrested in November 2025 while preparing for his Uganda Advanced Certificate of Education (UACE) final examinations. According to The Monitor, he had only written two of his exam papers before his arrest.

“I also note that the sentence as provided for in the law provides an option for a fine. However, given the circumstances of the offense, I find that option does not abide, given the person is a fountain of the defence forces by virtue of their positions. They deserve to be respected rather than spreading malicious information,” the magistrate ruled.

Ssemugenyi was sentenced to six months’ imprisonment, to be served at Luzira Prison, for the two counts to which he pleaded guilty. The sentence will run concurrently. He faces a separate trial for a third count of hate speech, relating to an allegation that he posted content calling the President a thief. That trial is set to begin on 6 January 2026.

A Regional Trend Of Online Prosecutions

This case emerges amid a regional trend of using cyber laws to prosecute social media commentary. In a separate but related incident, a US-based Zambian influencer, Ethel Chisono Edwards, was sentenced to 18 months in prison for insulting President Hakainde Hichilema online. She was arrested upon arriving in Zambia for her grandmother’s funeral and pleaded guilty.

Edwards was convicted under Zambia’s new Cyber Security Act, legislation that prompted a warning from the US embassy in April 2025, which described it as “intrusive.” This law has drawn criticism for potentially curbing free expression, a point opposition figures have highlighted given President Hichilema’s past criticisms of similar legislation.