Revenge porn is a new dynamic of revenge in Africa, especially in Kenya.
This is where a person releases pornographic materials of their former lovers, either videos or nude photos, to the public through social media.
Revenge porn, or non-consensual pornography, has become an increasing problem, especially for young women in many parts of the world, even though men, too, have been on the receiving end.
Most victims usually let go of such incidents and never bother to follow up legally.
However, a recent decision by a Sierra Leonean court has set a precedent for future similar cases in Africa.
A High Court in Sierra Leone’s capital last month sentenced Issa Kamara to five years in prison for making and distributing explicit videos of his ex-girlfriend.
Kamara was given the alternative of paying a fine of 80 million Leones, equivalent to Sh826,397.
Judge Momoh-Jah Stevens found Kamara guilty of making and sharing a sexually explicit video without the ex's consent.
Aside from the sentence, Kamara was ordered to pay a mandatory compensation fee to the victim amounting to Sh204,970 on or after completion of his sentence or payment of the fine.
Kamara was charged on four counts under the Sexual Offences (Amendment) Act 2019, ranging from making and possessing indecent material to circulating it.
He was accused of recording himself having sex with the female in Freetown between March and April 2020 and then sending the video to her fiancé overseas.
The court was told Kamara and the victim dated for some years and even moved in together. They later broke up and everyone moved on with their lives.
Unknowing to the victim, Kamara intended to distribute intimate videos he had made while still together.
He not only released the videos to the public but also went ahead to send them to the victim’s fiancé, who lived in the US.
After a thorough investigation by the cybercrime unit, the Sierra Leone’s prosecution was able to prove that the accused owned the phone that recorded the video, which according to the judge was done without the victim’s consent.
CLOSER HOME
In Mombasa, Quinter Naliaka almost lost herself to depression after her ex-boyfriend leaked nude pictures they had taken while still in the relationship.
Naliaka and the partner had been in a relationship for a few years before things went south and they had to part ways.
“The relationship had turned toxic and I decided to walk out of it. I, however, did not know my ex had other plans,” she said.
While she was recovering and enjoying her life as a single lady, the man started threatening her with exposing the photos.
And true to his word, he released the photos on all social media platforms and even sent them to Naliaka’s family members.
“Coming from a religious family where my father was a religious leader, I faced the wrath of everyone, including my extended family and the community. I was the outcast and everyone saw me as a curse and disgrace to my community,” she said.
As a result, Naliaka sunk into depression and despite the disgrace, her family stood by her side and took her to rehab, where she also underwent psychological counselling.
Naliaka, who has authored a book called Self-care to mental violence, later founded an organisation, which assists girls who have undergone similar cases.
“Revenge porn erodes your dignity, it takes away your self-esteem, it takes away the respect people have for you. It breaks someone completely and one needs a strong support system to overcome,” she said.
In 2016, the then reigning Miss World Kenya Roshanara Ibrahim was stripped of the title after her ex-boyfriend leaked to the public her nude photos.
At 22 years old, Ibrahim was crowned as the most beautiful girl in Kenya and was set to represent the country in Miss World competitions at the US.
However, five months before the world beauty contest, Ibrahim’s ex-boyfriend Frank Zalhaten published the photos on social media, leading to her dethroning and the crown passed to the first runners-up.
Ibrahim has previously admitted that her life changed during that period as her life was filled with cruelty that led to many tears, and she lost everything that meant anything to her.
The franchise holders stripped her of the title on what they termed a breach of the code of conduct that governs the pageant holders, after which Roshanara went to court to challenge the action.
Even though she did not manage to convince the court to have the organisers restore her title, Ibrahim was awarded Sh1 million as damages.
The Edward Muriithi judgment ordered Zahlten to pay her the amount for violating her right to privacy.
Ibrahim’s case was solved under civil court and Zahlten was not held criminally culpable.
LACK OF PROSECUTION
Despite the rising numbers of people falling victim to revenge porn, there has been no conviction of the perpetrators.
In 2019, a Nairobi man was charged at the Kibera court with demanding Sh35 million from his ex-lover, who was planning to get married to her new man, "to sanitise" her naked pictures from his phone and “allow her a clean marriage”.
The two broke up in mid-2018 and Maina allegedly resorted to using the pictures he had taken of the victim while asleep and naked to intimidate her to give him the money, failing which he would make the pictures public.
He had already sent a picture to the complainant to prove to her that he has her pictures while naked on his bed.
The matter is still pending in court.
Under Kenya’s constitution, citizens’ rights to privacy are enshrined in Article 31 (c) of the Constitution which provides for the right to informational privacy, which includes the privacy of private photographs of a person.
Lawyer Jared Magolo, however, said the law is not very clear on this new type of crime that completely infringes on one’s right to privacy.
He said the provisions under Article 31 are very general and not specific to revenge porn, hence very difficult to charge someone using the law.
“Alternatively, people are charged under the misuse of communication gadgets, which is also not very clear on this new type of crime," he said.
He said revenge porn being an emerging crime in Kenya, the law needs to be specified and further impose a stronger sentence if one is found guilty.
The renowned criminal lawyer said Kenya needs a more stringent law with minimal restrictions in terms of proving the case against a suspect.
Magolo said most victims prefer to remain silent rather than report due to various reasons, including the fact that they are not aware of their rights to report this invasion of their privacy.
In other instances, the lawyer said victims feel reporting the matter is giving it more publicity and most of them prefer it to fizzle out.
He said the reporting exercise might also be traumatizing especially if the victim meets unprofessional police officers who will then dwell on revisiting the actions on the video and not the crime itself.
Magolo said the culture of victim shaming has also been an obstacle to victims reporting such cases.
With the outcome of the Sierra Leone case, Magolo said the judgment will set a precedent if cited.
He said the judgment was timely and the sentence appropriate and if emulated, it will be an example and deterrence to any Kenyan who will want to release intimate photos of their ex-lovers.
HEALTH EFFECTS
A study by Australian researchers showed victims overall feel unsafe within their own environs, such as homes, and may suffer significant emotional distress.
The study, published on Research Gate, indicated a victim is likely to seclude her or himself and avoid social activities, which may result in suffering anxiety, depression and other psychological problems as a result of knowing their images are in the public space.
The victims, especially women, feel out of control of the situation, especially when they think of whether their families have already seen the images or if they are continually distributed.
The researchers further showed revenge porn consolidates the idea that the bodies of women and girls, as well as other sexual minorities, are available for objectification and consumption.
The study recommends establishment of laws that will strictly deal with the non-consensual distribution of intimate images or videos.
Internationally, Canada, Israel, Japan, New Zealand, the Philippines, the UK and 26 states in the US are among countries that have already introduced legislation on various forms of revenge pornography.
In New Zealand, the Harmful Digital Communications Act 2015 (NZ) criminalises the non-consensual distribution of sexually explicit and/or intimate imagery (revenge pornography). A number of extra-judicial mechanisms have been put in place to ensure harmful content is removed.
England and Wales have introduced legislation through the Criminal Justice and Courts Act 2015, and later the Scottish government introduced the Abusive Behaviour and Sexual Harm (Scotland) Bill 2015, which proposes a new offence of sharing intimate private material.
Edited by T Jalio
