A 25-year-old woman named Chaw Sandi Htun living in the town of Maubin in Myanmar was recently arrested for allegedly defaming the Myanmar army’s new uniform on Facebook. She commented on the photo of Commander-in-Chief Senior-Gen Min Aung Hlaing sporting the new uniform and compared the colour of the uniform to the longyi worn by opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

A longyi is a sheet of cloth widely worn in Myanmar by men and women, often sewn in a cylindrical shape and worn around the waist.

There have been many incidents where Facebook users landed in jail for posting seemingly inoffensive comments or even simply liking a Page. Here are five unbelievable criminal cases in different countries – including the USA -- recently filed against Facebook users.

  • Thomas Smith, a Wisconsin man, was arrested for posting inappropriate comments on the Facebook page of a local police department. In a state court, Smith was criminally charged with allegedly misusing computerised communications. His sentence was a year of probation and 25 hours of community service. He later he filed a civil rights lawsuit and was awarded with US$35,000, reported ARS Technica.
  • Ryan Pate, an expat American residing in Abu Dhabi, was arrested in March 2015 for a Facebook post that went against the country's strict cyber-slander laws. In the post, Pate had a heated discussion with employer Global Aerospace Logistics (Gal) over sick leave. The post was posted in the USA but on returning to Abu Dhabi from Florida, Pate was arrested. Pate addressed Gal as "backstabbers", complained about life in the UAE and commented on the cultural and racial practices the people of the country, reports the BBC.
  • Last month, an Egyptian Facebook user named Amr Nohan was sentenced to three years in jail by a military court for superimposing Mickey Mouse ears on the image of Egyptian president Abdel Fattah El-Sisi. Nohan was charged for an “attempt to overthrow the regime”.
  • Earlier in July, Australian woman Jodi Magi, was imprisoned in Abu Dhabi for an improper Facebook post. Charged under the UAE Cyber Crime Law, she was found guilty of humiliating a driver in her apartment block. The driver parked the car across two disabled parking spaces. She was arrested and will soon be deported.
  • In June 2014, Kerolos Shawky, a Christian man in Egypt, was sentenced to six years in prison for simply liking the Facebook page of the “Knights of the Cross”. He was fined a huge US$840 and charged with contempt of Islam. Shawky was convicted by the Egyptian court for violating Article 98(f) of the Egyptian Penal Code. Article 98(f) that forbids "ridiculing, or insulting heavenly religions or inciting sectarian strife”, according to Christian Headlines. The Knights of the Cross, more famous as the Teutonic Knights, was a medieval German military order consisting of Catholic fighting men.

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