A Zambian influencer who goes by One Boss Lady got hit with 18 months behind bars after getting arrested at the airport when she flew back from New York for her grandmother's funeral. Ethel Chisono Edwards basically got nailed under these new cyber laws for talking trash about President Hakainde Hichilema online, and she ended up pleading guilty to hate speech charges even though her lawyer tried playing the sympathy card about how she sponsors a girls' football team.
The whole thing is wild because the US embassy literally warned Americans about how sketchy these surveillance laws are, calling them intrusive and saying they let the government monitor basically everything. People are pointing out that Hichilema was against this exact kind of legislation back when he was in opposition, so the hypocrisy is not lost on anyone.
Her legal team says she apologized and asked for mercy, but the court wanted to send a message about online behavior, and she stayed locked up the whole time.
The whole thing is wild because the US embassy literally warned Americans about how sketchy these surveillance laws are, calling them intrusive and saying they let the government monitor basically everything. People are pointing out that Hichilema was against this exact kind of legislation back when he was in opposition, so the hypocrisy is not lost on anyone.
Her legal team says she apologized and asked for mercy, but the court wanted to send a message about online behavior, and she stayed locked up the whole time.
