Nicaragua’s National Assembly approved a law on Wednesday that imposes prison sentences for anyone who publishes comments that provoke “alarm” on social media, which opposition media in exile are calling a “gag law.” The law punishes those who, inside or outside the country, spread social media posts that cause “alarm, fear, panic, or distress” among the population with prison sentences of three to five years and fines, according to a statement from the parliament, which is controlled by the government of Daniel Ortega.
If the publication is deemed to promote discrimination, hatred, or violence, or endangers “economic and social stability, public order,” the sentence will be five to ten years in prison. The new law strengthens the 2020 cybercrime law, which led to the prosecution and arrest of many opposition figures and journalists in Nicaragua for “spreading false news.”
The new law “would establish total control over social media,” said Nicaraguan lawyer Salvador Marenco, who is exiled in Costa Rica, in a statement. “Social media was crucial for denouncing the severe human rights violations” in Nicaragua, Marenco emphasized, adding that the new law expands Ortega’s “policy of transnational repression.”
For its part, parliament claims the law “strengthens the prevention, confrontation, investigation, and prosecution of crimes (…) through computer systems, new technologies, and social networks.” The Ortega government has intensified repression since the opposition protests of 2018, partly through changes in legislation. Since then, it has forced the closure of around 5,500 NGOs and confiscated their assets.
The 2018 protests resulted in more than 300 deaths in three months, according to the UN. Since then, thousands of Nicaraguans have gone into exile, and hundreds have been expelled, with their assets confiscated. This law follows a reform of the penal code approved last week, which imposed sentences of up to 30 years in prison and asset confiscation for “crimes against the Nicaraguan State” committed by anyone, anywhere in the world.
On Tuesday, Nicaragua revoked the nationality and confiscated the assets of 135 former political prisoners sent to Guatemala last week following U.S. mediation, accusing them of undermining national sovereignty. With this decision, 451 Nicaraguan opposition members have been stripped of their nationality since the beginning of 2023, according to a count based on official data.
The UN Human Rights Council debated a report on the situation in Nicaragua in Geneva on Tuesday, presented by Christian Salazar Volkmann, head of the UN High Commissioner for Human Rights. The report criticized the law approved last week, suggesting it could intensify the “repression” of Nicaraguans in exile.
The new law will take effect when published in the official newspaper, La Gaceta.
Censorship manual
With the new cybercrime law, Nicaragua aligns its legislation in this area with those in Russia or China, Managua’s allies, said former Nicaraguan presidential candidate Félix Maradiaga, who is exiled in the United States, in an interview with AFP.
“By following the censorship and totalitarian control manual of these regimes, Ortega not only attacks freedom of expression in Nicaragua, but he also solidifies his place in the growing club of autocrats who seek to stifle any form of dissent,” said Maradiaga, who heads the Foundation for the Freedom of Nicaragua.
“Ortega is following these same steps (…) to criminalize any criticism that threatens his power,” the opposition leader added.
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