Signed by Uganda’s veteran President Yoweri Museveni in February, the law calls for homosexuals to be jailed for life, outlaws the promotion of homosexuality and obliges Ugandans to denounce gays to the authorities. But the activists argue that the law was passed in parliament without the necessary quorum of lawmakers, and said they were confident in their case.“
We are saying
there is no evidence about the quorum,” state attorney Patricia Mutesa told the
court in the capital Kampala, the second day of the hearing. The 10 petitioners including two Ugandan
rights organisation also claim that the law violates the constitutional right
to privacy and dignity, as well as the right to be free from discrimination,
and cruel, inhuman and degrading treatment.
Judges adjourned
the hearings until Friday, when they are expected to rule on the quorum
issue.But prominent gay-rights activist Frank Mugisha, one of the petitioners,
told AFP he was optimistic that judges would rule in favour of scrapping the
law.
I think that we
could have a very good judgement tomorrow, and if we get that judgement then
it’s over — and we just have to celebrate,” said Mugisha, who heads the Sexual
Minorities Uganda (SMUG) group.
Outspoken
anti-gay preacher Pastor Martin Ssempa, who was also in court, has already
warned he feared the “judicial abortion of our bill” due to international
pressure.“This case is moving at lightning speed,” he said Thursday, claiming
the petition was being pushed to polish Uganda’s international reputation
before Museveni travels to Washington next week to meet President Barack Obama
at a landmark US-Africa summit.“
There are
efforts… to drum up a legal precedent to try to show (Washington) that, ‘hey,
we are not that bad on homosexuality,’” Ssempa claimed.US Secretary of State
John Kerry has likened the Ugandan law to anti-Semitic legislation in Nazi
Germany.
feeling the pressure
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