According to Reuters, a Ugandan man held in pre-trial detention for nearly a year under the country’s controversial anti-homosexuality laws has been freed on bail. The release comes amidst reports of growing rights violations against Uganda’s LGBTQ community following the enactment of the Anti-Homosexuality Act (AHA) last year.
Michael Opolot, 21, was detained on August 15 last year. Initially charged with aggravated homosexuality in a court in Soroti, northeastern Uganda, he was later faced with a lesser charge but had been repeatedly denied bail. Chapter Four Uganda, a human rights group representing Opolot, announced on the X platform late on Tuesday that “After 350 days on remand, the Soroti Chief Magistrate’s court finally granted (Opolot) … cash bail today.” The group described the long pre-trial detention as “unconscionable.”
Frank Mugisha, a prominent Ugandan LGBTQ rights campaigner, also reported the release on his X account. A Judiciary spokesperson did not immediately respond to a Reuters request for comment.
The Convening for Equality (CFE), a coalition of LGBTQ rights groups, stated earlier this month that Opolot had been subjected to forced anal examinations during his incarceration. A prisons spokesperson did not immediately respond to a Reuters phone call seeking comment on this allegation.
Uganda’s AHA, enacted last year, introduced severe penalties for homosexuality. The law includes the death penalty for “aggravated homosexuality” and life imprisonment for same-sex intercourse. Opolot faced a life sentence after his charge was amended to “having unnatural sex,” covered by an old anti-sodomy law from the British colonial era.
A June report by a rights groups coalition documented at least 1,000 LGBTQ rights violations in the previous nine months, including arrests, torture, beatings, evictions, banishment, blackmail, and loss of employment.
The AHA legislation has drawn international condemnation. The U.S. imposed sanctions and travel bans, while the World Bank halted all new lending to Uganda in response to the law.
Source: Reuters
