Dr Stella Nyanzi has appealed to the High Court challenging her conviction and sentence.

Buganda Road Court Grade one Magistrate Gladys Kamasanyu Musenze sentenced Nyanzi to 18 months in prison after she was convicted of cyber harassment contrary to sections 24(1) and 24(2) (a) of the Computer Misuse Act (2011) on August 2, 2019.

Nyanzi is expected to serve nine months in prison since court deducted the nine months she spent on remand.

In her appeal, she argues that the court did not have the jurisdiction and she allowed the charge that was incurably defective, unacceptably and vague by law.

She wants the conviction quashed and the punishment set removed on grounds that the magistrate passed an illegal and disproportionate sentence.

Dr Nyanzi adds that the trial magistrate erred in law and fact, when she refused to facilitate the compulsory attendance and examination of a defense witness, Mustapha B. Mugisa after he had absconded from court.

She says the magistrate failed to properly evaluate the evidence on record, thereby making a wrong decision in convicting the appellant of cyber harassment.

She alleges that the magistrate contravened Article 28(5) of the 1995 Constitution, Section 123 of the Magistrates Court Act, and the Judicature (Visual-Audio Link) Rules (2016) when she conducted proceedings on August 2, 2019 via Visual-Audio Link.

Prosecution said that on September 16, 2018, Dr Stella Nyanzi posted on her Facebook page suggestions deemed obscene against the President’s deceased mother.