A Ugandan court has dismissed the first case brought under an anti-gay law seen as one of the harshest in the world, a lawyer told AFP Tuesday, in a decision welcomed by rights campaigners.
The Anti-Homosexuality Act 2023 imposes penalties of up to life in prison for consensual same-sex relations and has provisions that make “aggravated homosexuality” an offence punishable by death.
First prosecution under the new law
The first case brought under the law, three months after it was passed, involved a man, now aged 25, accused of “unlawful sexual intercourse with… (a) male adult aged 41”, an offence punishable by death.
He spent 350 days in custody.
The charges were amended in January 2024 to “unnatural offences of having carnal knowledge against the order of nature”, which carries a sentence of life imprisonment, his lawyer Douglas Mawadri told AFP.
But on Monday, the court dismissed the case, saying the accused was “mentally unstable and does not understand the trial process”, Mawadri said.
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The defence argued he had developed psychosis and schizophrenia as a result of his detention.
Rights groups condemn prolonged detention
LGBTQ activist Richard Lusimbo said the decision was “a major breakthrough which should have come out earlier”.
“Detaining someone for over a year without trial is injustice at its worst,” Lusimbo told AFP.
Uganda, a conservative and predominantly Christian country in east Africa, is notorious for its intolerance of same-sex relations.
International backlash and economic consequences
The anti-gay law triggered outrage among rights campaigners and condemnation from the United Nations and Western countries.
The World Bank suspended funding to the country, though it resumed in mid-2025.
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