’Targeted arrest’ of LGBTQ+ Ugandans causes outrage in Pride Month
Over 40 Ugandans were arrested during a police raid on an LGBTQ+ youth shelter for allegedly flouting Covid-19 protocols.
CAPE TOWN, June 3 (ANA) – The arrest of more than 40 Ugandans during a police raid on an LGBTQ+ youth shelter on May 31 was part of the “continued targeted arrest” of members of the LGBTQ+ community, Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) stated on social media on June 2.
Forty-four people were arrested by the Ugandan Police Force (UPF) at the Happy Family Youth Shelter, an LGBTQ+ shelter in Uganda’s capital Kampala, for allegedly flouting Covid-19 protocols.
Out of the 44 arrested, 42 appeared in court on Tuesday after being charged with “negligent act likely to spread infection of disease”.
Due to a section of the Penal Code Act 17, those arrested were subjected to anal examinations, according to prominent figures in Uganda’s gender advocacy community Dr Frank Mugisha and Kasha Jacqueline Nabagesera.
On Wednesday, three of those arrested were granted bail, while the 39 others’ bail application was deferred until Friday, June 4, according to HRAPF.
The 39 people have been transferred to Kitalya Mini Max Prison, located north-west of Kampala.
HRAPF has said that it is working tirelessly with the Center for Health, Human Rights and Development (CEHURD Uganda) and Sexual Minorities Uganda (SMUG) to have the 39 released because “experiences with Kitalya prison and LGBT persons is a cause for worry as many have faced gross human rights violations in that particular facility”.
Such mass arrests of members of the LGBTQ+ community is a “commonplace” occurrence, according to Dr Adrian Jjuuko, a Ugandan human rights lawyer.
Jjuuko highlighted the plight of those arrested and the criminal justice system in general, adding that there is no place for LGBTQ+ people to be truly safe due to the negative cultural stigma associated with the LGBTQ+ community in Uganda.
In May 2021, Uganda’s parliament passed the Sexual Offences Bill which criminalises same-sex acts.
In an interview by CNN posted to social media in 2016, long-serving Ugandan President Yoweri Museveni called homosexuals “disgusting”.
https://www.youtube.com/embed/Yzu4WgUOWUM
Asked whether he personally dislikes homosexuals, Museveni responded: “Of course, they are disgusting. What sort of people are they?”
– African News Agency (ANA); Editing by Yaron Blecher
