A rickshaw driver in Somalia has been sentenced to three years in prison for comments she made on social media, in a case that has caught the public’s attention and provoked outrage in the country.

Sadia Moalim Ali, a 27-year-old nursing graduate, was originally charged with insulting government institutions and incitement to commit a crime, but convicted only of the former. Her sentence, immediately condemned as “fundamentally unjust”, was handed down on 25 June.

She had made critical comments on Facebook and TikTok about the federal government of Somalia, speaking out about the youth unemployment and high fuel prices gripping the country, as well as against alleged corruption, nepotism and forced evictions.

The sentencing of the young mother has been condemned by former high-ranking government officials, including the former president of Somalia, Sharif Sheikh Ahmed, and human rights organisations.

Hassan Ali Khaire, former prime minister of Somalia, wrote on X: “The three-year prison sentence handed down today … is deeply troubling and fundamentally unjust. This politically motivated arrest and conviction … reflects a disturbing pattern of judicial overreach, political retaliation, and abuse of state authority.”

In a statement, the Coalition of Somali Human Rights Defenders called for her immediate release, saying: “Ali’s conviction and harsh sentence represent a serious attack on freedom of expression and the legitimate work of human rights defenders in Somalia.”

It said her case reflected a broader pattern of systematic discrimination against women who advocated for social and political change. “Female human rights defenders in Somalia continue to face disproportionate risks,” it said, “including arbitrary arrest, judicial harassment, intimidation, online abuse and gender-based discrimination, aimed at excluding them from civic and political participation.”

Somali media reported that Mohamed Sheikh Osman, one of Ali’s lawyers, rejected the ruling and said the defence would appeal.

“[Ali] is not satisfied with the decision of the Banaadir Regional Court,” he told reporters. “The court issued a harsh ruling that could have been avoided.”

Ali, who is the main breadwinner for her family and has a one-year-old daughter, has been in custody since 12 April. In an interview from prison in May, she told the Guardian she had been subjected to torture. She said: “I was forced to lie face down on the ground, and water was poured on me. I was kicked by guards with boots on. They stood over me and beat me with a baton.

“I was taken into solitary confinement and kept there for two days. I was deprived of food and basic necessities while I was locked in that cell. I wasn’t allowed to leave to go to the toilet.”

At court, Ali said police officers had threatened her with rape.

Torture – defined as any act by which severe pain or suffering, physical or mental, is intentionally inflicted – is prohibited under international law and by the UN Convention against Torture in all circumstances.

Since 2022, Somali authorities have been accused of engaging in a systematic and escalating crackdown on human rights, using arbitrary arrests, detention, harassment, threats and intimidation to silence journalists, activists and other people who express dissenting views.