Ana da Silva Miguel, also known as Neth Nahara, is a well-known social media influencer in Angola. She was given a two-year prison sentence for “insulting” the country’s president on TikTok.
She had been given a six-month term in August, but an appeals court increased it to two years because they felt the earlier punishment was too light.
On her TikTok account, Ms. Miguel accused the president of being “anarchic and disorganized” and blamed him for problems with the country’s lack of job, housing, and educational opportunities.
In August of last year, President Lourenço won re-election for a second term, maintaining the long-standing rule of the MPLA party. Since Angola gained its independence in 1975, the party in charge has come under fire for allegedly running an oppressive government.
The stiffer term was imposed by the appeals court in the nation’s capital, Luanda, due to Ms. Miguel’s derogatory remarks against the president and her enormous influence over public opinion.
The court rejected her appeal and required her to pay President Lourenço $1,200 (£1,000) for “damage” to his reputation despite her request for mercy on the grounds that she was a first-time offender and a mother of young children who regretted her statements.
Ms. Miguel is the first person in Angola to be found guilty for material they put on TikTok, according to her attorney, and she has over 230,000 TikTok followers and thousands of video views.
The decision is final because only sentences longer than three years are eligible for appeals to the Supreme Court.
