Ugandan prosecutors have lodged charges of “aggravated homosexuality” against a 20-year-old man — a crime punishable by death — in one of the country’s first applications of provision included in one of the world’s harshest antigay laws.
Same-sex acts had long been considered illegal under Uganda’s penal code, but a law enacted this year introduced far harsher penalties and vastly extended the range of perceived offenses.
Its passage drew condemnation from human rights groups and the United Nations, and the Biden administration called it “one of the most extreme” antigay measures in the world.
Prosecutors used the death penalty provision this month to charge a 20-year-old man with having sexual intercourse with a 41-year-old man with a disability in the city of Soroti, in Eastern Uganda, according to Jacquelyn Okui, a spokeswoman for the Office of the Director of Public Prosecution.
(A separate case against a different man, lodged last month, involved an underage person, Ms. Okui said.)
Persons:
—, Biden, Jacquelyn, Okui
Organizations:
United Nations, Prosecutors, Public Prosecution
Locations:
Soroti, Eastern Uganda