Jailed Ugandan activist, Stella Nyanzi, wins 2020 PEN prize

A Ugandan feminist activist, Stella Nyanzi, who is currently behind bars, has won the Oxfam Novib/PEN International Award for Freedom of Expression 2020.

According to the BBC, Nyanzi, who is also a writer, was sentenced to 18 years in prison in August last year for "cyber harassment" after she published a poem on Facebook criticizing President Yoweri Museveni.

She revealed she wished that the 74-year-old had been burned up by the "acidic pus" in his late mother's birth canal.

Ms Nyazi, according to BBC, is a controversial academic, who campaigns on a variety of issues, from sanitary pads for schoolgirls to gay rights.

"Stella Nyanzi has been deemed a criminal by the Ugandan authorities because she has criticised those at the highest echelons of power; though her words might be colourful and shocking to some", Jennifer Clement, PEN International president said in a statement released on Friday.

"At PEN we believe unshakeably in the need for writers to be able to criticise, parody, and mock at the highest levels. This award recognises the work she has done for women, civil society, and in the defense of free expression."