Tuesday, February 25, 2014

Ugandan paper publishes a list of the country's 'Top 200 homosexuals' the day after the country brings in harsh anti-gay law

  • Red Pepper tabloid published names and some pictures of 'homosexuals'
  • List of 'top 200' included some people who had not come out as gay
  • List, printed under headline 'EXPOSED!', contains hip-hop artist and priest
  • A similar list was published in 2010 calling for two gay rights activists to be hanged. One, David Kato, was eventually killed early in 2011
  • News comes the day after tough new law on homosexuality was signed
  • The US says it is reviewing its donations to Uganda as a result
  • A Ugandan newspaper has published a list of the country's 'top 200' homosexuals a day after the president enacted harsh anti-gay legislation.
    The Red Pepper, a Ugandan tabloid, ran the names of 200 people it claims are homosexuals, including several who have not previously come out as gay, under the headline 'EXPOSED!'
    The list includes prominent Ugandan gay activists such as Pepe Julian Onziema, as well as a popular Ugandan hip-hop star and a Catholic priest.
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    The Red Pepper, a tabloid in Uganda, has printed the names of 200 people it accuses of being homosexuals on its front page
    The Red Pepper, a tabloid in Uganda, has printed the names of 200 people it accuses of being homosexuals on its front page

    The list, which appears under the headline EXPOSED!, features names of people not previously identified as gay
    The list, which appears under the headline EXPOSED!, features names of people not previously identified as gay

    The news comes on the day after Ugandan president Yoweri Museveni signed a bill into law which punishes 'aggravated homosexuality' with life in prison.
    U.S. Secretary of State John Kerry said the bill marked 'a tragic day for Uganda and for all who care about the cause of human rights' and warned that Washington could cut aid to the East African nation.
    He said: 'Now that this law has been enacted, we are beginning an internal review of our relationship with the Government of Uganda to ensure that all dimensions of our engagement, including assistance programs, uphold our anti-discrimination policies and principles and reflect our values.'

    Few Ugandans identify themselves publicly as gay, and the tabloid's publication of alleged homosexuals recalls a similar list published in 2010.
    A prominent Ugandan gay activist, David Kato, was killed after the Rolling Stone newspaper - which has no affiliation with the American magazine - called for him to be hanged.
    In 2011 the then-editor said he had 'no regrets' over the article, as it was exposing wrongdoing.
    The news comes just a day after the country's president signed harsh new anti-gay legislation
    The news comes just a day after the country's president signed harsh new anti-gay legislation
    Yesterday president Yoweri Musaveni called homosexuality 'disgusting' as he signed the bill into law
    Yesterday president Yoweri Musaveni called homosexuality 'disgusting' as he signed the bill into law


    A Ugandan judge later condemned the outing of homosexuals in a country where gays face severe discrimination, saying it amounted to an invasion of privacy.
    Today Jacqueline Kasha, a well-known Ugandan lesbian activist who is among those listed in the Red Pepper story, tweeted: 'The media witch hunt is back.'
    The bill originally proposed the death penalty for 'aggravated homosexuality,' defined as repeated gay sex between consenting adults and acts involving a minor, a disabled person or where one partner is infected with HIV.
    The law also calls for first-time offenders to be sentenced to 14 years in jail.
    In signing the bill, Museveni said the measure is needed because the West is promoting homosexuality in Africa, rejecting international criticism as interference in Uganda's internal affairs.
    Museveni accused 'arrogant and careless Western groups' of trying to recruit Ugandan children into homosexuality.


    Ugandan police spokesman Patrick Onyango said on Tuesday that no homosexuals have been arrested since Museveni signed the bill but that at least two had been taken into custody since lawmakers passed the bill last December.
    Onziema, the gay activist, said he had counted up to six arrests and said that more than a dozen Ugandan homosexuals had fled the country since December over safety concerns.
    Homosexuality has long been criminalised in Uganda under a colonial-era law that outlawed sex acts 'against the order of nature.'
    Some Ugandan lawyers and activists have said they will challenge the law in court as unconstitutional and impossible to implement.
    The Ugandan law — which came just over a month after Nigeria passed a similar measure against gays — has been condemned around the world, although it is widely popular among Ugandans.
    U.N. High Commissioner for Human Rights Navi Pillay warned that the law would institutionalise discrimination and could encourage harassment and violence against gays.



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