The Mail and Guardian reports on the Ugandan pop star who has been in jail after her music video was deemed pornographic.
A Ugandan pop star faces up to 10 years in prison if her latest video is found to have broken a tough new anti-pornography law.
Jemimah Kansiime’s video has been viewed 140,000 times on the YouTube website, but has fallen foul of conservative politicians.
The 21-year-old singer, who uses the stage name Panadol wa Basajja – “medicine for men” – spent five weeks in jail after her arrest before being bailed.
She is on course to be the subject of the first full trial under a law which took effect in February last year. Critics say it is part of a growing anti-liberal movement that has included tough laws against homosexuals.
Ugandan pop singer Jemimah Kansiime (AFP)
Miss Kansiime accepted that she “was aware that there are some sections of society that are conservative”, although she said she never dreamt that the video, in which she dances around in her underwear, would have broken the law.
The singer and her former manager, Didi Muchwa Mugisha, were arrested in November. Mugisha pleaded guilty and was fined 200,000 Ugandan shillings (£43), but Miss Kansiime pleaded not guilty.
“My rights have been trampled upon, my freedom of expression has been trampled upon,” she said from her home in the capital, Kampala.
Jemimah Kansiime is the first person to be tried under Uganda’s pornography law that came in last year, the newspaper says
Her trial is due later this month and the Mail and Guardian says that if she is found guilty she could be sentenced to 10 years in jail.
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