School Girls Arrested For Drawing on President’s Face in their Books

Three schoolgirls in Burundi spent the weekend in jail and are facing five years in prison for drawing on the President’s face in their school books, Human Rights Watch said.

The girls, who are all minors, were arrested last week and were on Monday charged with ‘insulting the head of state,’ according to the human rights group.
A 13-year-old girl was released for being below the age of criminal responsibility while four others arrested alongside the schoolgirls were released.

Mudge said textbooks in Burundi’s school system are often passed in between classes and it is, therefore, difficult to know who scribbled on the President’s image in the first place.