A sedition law in Uganda under which many journalists have been arrested and prosecuted is no more.
The outdated sedition law was scrapped, Wednesday, by Uganda’s constitutional court in Kampala on grounds that it limited peoples’ freedom of speech and expression.
The judgment was read by the Registrar of the Constitutional Court, Asaph Ntengye who said, “The panel of five judges of the constitutional court has ruled that the law on sedition is unconstitutional since it limits peoples’ freedom of speech and expression.”
The ruling follows a court petition by East Africa Media Institute in which the petitioners challenged some provisions of the Penal Code Act on sedition saying that the provisions bar freedom of expression as guaranteed by the 1995 Constitution of Uganda.
Sedition, according to Uganda law, is when someone or a group of persons states or writes statements that brings hatred against the President, the Government or the Judiciary of Uganda.
Expressing satisfaction, a veteran Ugandan journalist, James Amoti said “We have won the battle. The bad law is no more. We have been working under fear of being arrested under that law.”
