UGANDA | 20 yer old Man could face death penalty for homosexuality, 60 Nigerians detained at Gay Wedding

UGANDA, August 29, 2023 - A 20-year-old man has become the first Ugandan to be charged with “aggravated homosexuality” – an offence punishable by death under the country’s recently enacted anti-gay law.

The defendant was charged on August 18 with aggravated homosexuality after he “performed unlawful sexual intercourse” with a 41-year-old man. The charge sheet did not specify why the act was considered aggravated.

“Since it is a capital offence triable by the High Court, the charge was read out and explained to him in the Magistrate’s Court on [the] 18th and he was remanded,” said Jacqueline Okui, spokesperson for the office of the director of public prosecutions.

Okui did not provide additional details about the case. She said she was not aware of anyone else having been previously charged with aggravated homosexuality.

Justine Balya, a lawyer for the defendant, said she believed the entire law was unconstitutional. The law has been challenged in court, but the judges have not yet taken up the case.

Defying pressure from Western governments and rights organisations, Uganda in May enacted one of the world’s harshest laws targeting the LGBTQ community.

The legislation has been condemned by rights groups and other campaigners. A group of UN experts described the law as “an egregious violation of human rights”, while Amnesty International called it “draconian and overly broad”.

It prescribes life in prison for same-sex intercourse. The death penalty can apply in cases deemed “aggravated”, which include repeat offences, gay sex that transmits terminal illness, or same-sex intercourse with a minor, an elderly person or a person with disabilities.

Balya said four other people have been charged under the law since its enactment and her client was the first to be prosecuted for aggravated homosexuality. She declined to comment on the specifics of his case.

Uganda has not executed anyone in about 20 years, but capital punishment has not been abolished and President Yoweri Museveni threatened in 2018 to resume executions to stop a wave of crime.

Meanwhile, Police in Nigeria said Tuesday they detained at least 67 people celebrating a gay wedding, in one of the country’s largest arrests targeting outlawed homosexuality.

The “gay suspects” were arrested in southern Delta state’s Ekpan town at about 2am (01:00 GMT) on Monday at an event where two of them were wedded, state police spokesman Bright Edafe told reporters. He added that homosexuality “will never be tolerated” in the West African nation.

The Nigerian law banning gay marriage, punishable by up to 14 years in prison, and same-sex “amorous relationships”, prompted an international outcry when it came into force under former President Goodluck Jonathan in 2014.

But the law is also supported by many in what remains a conservative country. More than 30 African countries already ban same-sex relationships and arrests of gay people are common in Nigeria.

Police in Delta stormed a hotel in Ekpan where the gay wedding was being held and initially arrested 200 people, Edafe told reporters. Later, 67 of them were detained after initial investigations, he said.

He spoke at a police station where the suspects were being paraded.

“The amazing part of it was that we saw two suspects, and there is a video recording where they were performing their wedding ceremony,” he said. “We are in Africa and we are in Nigeria. We cannot copy the Western world because we don’t have the same culture.”

He reiterated that police officers in Nigeria “cannot fold their hands” and watch gay people openly express their orientation in the country.

“This is not something that will be allowed in Nigeria,” he said, adding that the suspects will be charged in court at the end of the investigation.

Source: Al Jazeera and news agencies