KAMPALA, Uganda
Two Ugandan males have become the first people who may face the death penalty under Uganda’s new anti-homosexuality law.
Prosecutors have accused
Julius Byaruhanga in the eastern district of Jinja of performing a sexual act
with a boy aged 12. It's unclear if Byaruhanga faces any other charges related
to abusing a minor.
The other accused, Michael
Opolot, 20, allegedly performed an unlawful act of sexual intercourse with a
41-year-old male in the eastern city of Soroti.
Justine Balya, a lawyer from
the group Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum who is defending Opolot,
said her client was reportedly seen engaging in a sexual act in a public space
with a person who has a disability.
Both of the accused, who have
been charged with “aggravated homosexuality,” could face the death penalty
under the new law signed in May this year.
“Having the death penalty on
the books, that changes significantly the protections that one is entitled to
while they are waiting for trial," Bayla said. "And it certainly
makes trial remand a punishment in and of itself.”
Because the case involves a
capital offense, Opolot will likely have to wait three to four years for his
case to be heard. Balya said several other cases involving alleged
homosexuality are waiting to go to trial in Ugandan courts.
“We also have a case of a lady
who has been charged with promotion of homosexuality and homosexuality because
of what they allege people were doing at a massage parlor that she owns. And of
course, there’s a host of other cases that are not in court but where people
have been charged formally with homosexuality, promotion of homosexuality, even
child grooming in one case.”
Frank Mugisha, a lawyer and
activist, said lesbian, gay and transgender people are being persecuted in
Uganda.
“Those people have not
identified themselves as LGBTQ," Mugisha said. "But the fact that
there’s an assumption that they were engaging in same-sex acts. And then they
are saying one person is living with disability. Which automatically the prosecution
will have to prefer the death penalty under aggravated homosexuality. It’s
exactly as activists what we’ve been saying that this law can be wrongly
interpreted.”
Uganda last hanged a convict
in 1999 and in 2005 formally scrapped the death penalty.
But the anti-homosexuality law
reintroduced the death penalty for the offense of aggravated homosexuality, a
move that gay rights activists have strongly criticized and are challenging in
the courts.
During the passing of the law,
government authorities argued that they were protecting the moral values and
principles of Ugandan society against what they called corrupt Western values.
Meanwhile, journalists and
media houses in Uganda say they fear heavy fines or the loss of their
registration if they are somehow found guilty of “promoting homosexuality,” a
term critics say has been vaguely explained in the law.
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