Harare: A court in Zimbabwe has sentenced a 17-year-old boy to be caned after he posted a picture of a woman on Facebook with a caption that called her a prostitute, state media said on Monday.

The Herald newspaper said magistrate Tinashe Ndokera found the boy guilty of criminal insult, and ordered that he be caned twice.

The teenager from the southeastern town of Chiredzi confessed to taking a photo of the woman without her knowledge as she made a phone call at her office on February 6.

"Later that evening, he posted the woman's picture on his Facebook profile and below the picture he wrote (in the local Shona language): 'These are Chiredzi's prostitutes'," The Herald said.

The woman discovered her picture when she logged on to Facebook and alerted police, who arrested the boy.

Caning is a common sentence in Zimbabwe, but only for minors deemed too young to serve prison terms.

Tags: Zimbabwe Facebook slur, Zimbabwe teen caned, Zimbabwe teenager Facebook slur