Ugandan court rejects bid to nullify anti-gay law that provides for death penalty in some cases

Uganda’s constitutional court on Wednesday upheld an anti-gay law that allows the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality”.
President Yoweri Museveni signed the bill into law in May last year. The law is supported by many in the East African country but widely condemned by rights activists and others abroad.

Activists had contested the law in court, but the judges declined to overturn it in their ruling.

The law defines “aggravated homosexuality” as cases of homosexual relations involving a minor and other categories of vulnerable people, or when the perpetrator is infected with HIV. A suspect convicted of “attempted aggravated homosexuality” can be imprisoned for up to 14 years, and the offense of “attempted homosexuality” is punishable by up to 10 years.

Homosexuality was already illegal in Uganda under a colonial-era law criminalising sexual activity “against the order of nature.” The punishment for that offense is life imprisonment.

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