In March 2020, The Uganda Police Force invaded an LGBTQ+ shelter outside of Kampala arrested 20 LGBTQ+ persons in an LGBTQ+ shelter for violating social distancing rules. According to a previous report, the 20 LGBTQ+ persons were made up of 14 gay men, 2 bisexual men, and 4 transgender women.
According to a police statement, they were charged with doing “negligent act likely to spread infection of disease” contrary to Section 171 of the Penal Code Act. Since then, advocates have demanded their release claiming homophobia as a reason for their arrest and that their arrest is a violation of their human rights. Many of the LGBTQ+ persons arrested were HIV positive, but Uganda’s coronavirus lockdown and a ban on prison visits made it impossible to meet the detainees or deliver medication to them.
On the 18th of May, about 50 days after they were unlawfully arrested without a chance to apply for bail, the court ruled that the charges against them are dropped and ordered their release from prison.
According to the Human Rights Media Network, the 20 arrested persons, supported by the LGBTQ-friendly Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF), filed a suit yesterday in the High Court in Kampala, Uganda against two men. Philimon Woniala, the deputy officer in charge of Kitalya Mini-Maxi Prison was accused of torture and Hajji Abdul Kiyimba, chairman of Kyengera Town Council, was accused of beating them and arranging for them to be roped together and marched to the local police station while crowds gathered and threatened them.
“During the first 42 days of detention, lawyers from Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) were denied access to the 20, until the High Court issued an order directing that the lawyers should be given access to their clients as not doing so constituted a violation of the non-derogable right to fair hearing and the right to liberty of the 20,” the statement from the Human Rights Awareness and Promotion Forum (HRAPF) said in their statement about the lawsuit.
“The prohibition against torture is absolute, and non-derogable. As such, regardless of the status of the person on remand, prison authorities, just like other law enforcement agencies, should not violate this most sacrosanct of rights,” Susan Baluka, HRAPF’s Advocacy and Strategic Litigation Officer said.
