Event Summary
On 2 December 2025, Zambian-born and US-based influencer Ethel Chisono Edwards, popularly known as One Boss Lady, was sentenced to 18 months in prison by a magistrate’s court in Lusaka for alleged hate speech after she made several insulting remarks about President Hakainde Hichilema on social media over two years. Edwards, a 42-year-old real estate agent living in New York, was arrested three months earlier at Kenneth Kaunda International Airport upon arriving to attend her grandmother’s funeral. Although she pleaded guilty and publicly apologized to the president, she was convicted under Section 65 of the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act of 2021, which states “ A person who, using a computer system, knowingly without lawful excuse, uses hate speech commits an offence and is liable, on conviction, to a fine not exceeding five hundred thousand penalty units or to imprisonment for a period not exceeding two years, or to both”. The sentencing has raised renewed concern because President Hichilema abolished the offense of “Criminal Defamation of the President” on 23 December 2022, by assenting to the Penal Code (Amendment) Bill number 25 of 2022. Yet, Zambians continue to face prosecution under alternative legislation, such as the Cyber Security and Cyber Crimes Act — highlighting persistent gaps between legal reforms and the actual protection of freedom of expression.